Skip to main content

I Missed You At Church Today

Can I just be honest with you?

I missed you at church today.  I know, you probably had a late night last night.  I am sure it must be difficult to have to get up and be somewhere by 10:45 in the morning.

I missed you at church today.  I know, the kids had a game to go to.  I am sure that their future as a baseball/soccer/basketball/football star is more important than the influence you have on their lives and the example you set for them to seek God first in everything.

I missed you at church today.  I know, it's hunting season again and Lord knows, those deer are only out in the woods on Sunday morning during church service!

I missed you at church today. I know, you came to church last week.  It's tough to give up your time like that each and every weekend!

I missed you at church today.  I know, you had a sick child in the family.  And, as a safety precaution, you kept everyone home.  You're right, that's much safer.

I missed you at church today.  I know, I saw what she posted on Facebook, too, and I see no reason not to avoid the fellowship of believers because of what she said.  After all, being offended is what Christianity is all about!

I missed you at church today. I know, that game started at 11:30.  I sure do wish they would invent something that could, you know, magically record that for me!

I missed you at church today.  I haven't seen you now in several weeks and I was just beginning to think that maybe there was something wrong.  We had such a great time of worship and fellowship.  The message really touched my heart today and I wish that you could have heard the testimony of the young man that shared.

I don't know what's changed in the church.

I tend to think it's something that has changed in the hearts of man.

Perhaps you, parents of children, have no desire to influence your children to grow up loving and serving the Lord.  If that is the case, then I fully understand, even though it causes me sorrow.

But, perhaps you, parents of children, do desire to influence your children to grow up loving and serving the Lord.  If that is the case, then they sure better see you doing that.

All the time.

Regularly.

Almost like it's a religion.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em

 I did not grow up throwing punches with schoolmates or with siblings. I did not experience violence in my home as a child. I was never encouraged to throw the first punch, or any punch for that matter. My memories of physical altercations with another person are limited to one specific instance from my junior high years, and the result of my choosing to resort to throwing a punch was not entirely positive. Yes, I did "solve" my problem on one hand, but I created new problems on the other.  There is certainly a culture that exists in our world that promotes violence as the answer to solving problems. I have a 5 and 7 year old - believe me, some people think that hitting is the only way to fix something. But outside of child's play and sibling bickering, there is a much more damaging culture that promotes "fixing" whatever problem one might have by exerting physical prowess or at least the threat of exertion. It is not limited to one section of culture or even so...

The Captivity of Fear

Fear holds you captive. By this, I mean that when we are afraid, it holds us in a restricted position. What we could have possibly done, we can do no longer, or at least not to the original potential. My wife sometimes shares a story of fear that she has related to the abnormally large cockroaches that we would sometimes encounter when we lived in Hawaii. Truthfully, they were water bugs, but their similarity to a cockroach was remarkable, especially in a dimly lit situation. On one occasion, a water bug had taken up residence in a door frame that she needed to pass through, but the mere fact that it was in that door frame was nearly enough to keep her from going through. She eventually mustered up the gumption and ran through the door. Her fear nearly kept her from doing what she needed to do, even though that particular task was not necessarily a noble one. In comparison, the prophet Jeremiah was given a task by God to warn Israel of the coming judgment of God. The judgment was roote...

One Heart

I have the privilege of being a part of a wonderful team of pastors and leaders from the MVNU Region who are doing the hard work of preparing for the '24-'27 PALCON cycle. PALCON is the Preachers and Leaders Conference, hosted regionally at different educational institutions around the United States on a three-year cycle. As we begin this next cycle in June of 2024, MVNU will be the first host site for PALCON.  Wednesday evening and Thursday of this past week, I spent time with pastors and leaders who are, for the most part, in the trenches and around the tables, leading in local and district ministry for the Church of the Nazarene. Here are my takeaways from this time together. Pastors are tired. They were tired before 2020, but COVID and the sundry of challenges that it brought have certainly made an impact in many ministries (not all). This sense of tired has been heightened by a significant number of church members and attendees either falling away completely or shifting to...