The Party's Over

As I write this, it is the week after Easter. It has been one of the most important, busiest, and exciting seasons of the year in the life of the church. If it has been business as usual, most churches have recorded their highest attendance of the year. If one has any inclination toward religion, has any interest in Christianity, feels any allegiance to the church, or has a religious family member who keeps inviting him or her to church, he or she was probably in a worship service this past week.

 

In some ways, those of us whose lives revolve around the church, the week after Easter is a bit of a letdown. Much like preparing for hosting a party; much planning, thought and work went into what happened holy week and especially Easter Sunday morning. The invited crowd came, it was a wonderful experience, and now it is over. My first thought is always, “Who is going to clean up this mess?”

 

It is exciting to prepare for a party. The guest list is developed, decorations are purchased, the meal is planned and the house is cleaned. As the time draws near, the meal is prepared, the table is set, flowers are freshened up and candles are lit to lend some atmosphere. A friend, who puts together some great parties, tells me he likes to finish party preparations at least an hour before the party so he can just sit and enjoy what he has done. That reminds me of working at Boy Scout camp. The staff came in a week early to make preparations. The joy of that week caused a fellow staff member to comment, “Boy Scout camp is much better before the Scouts show up.”

 

I believe it to be a universal truth that preparing for a party is much more fun than cleaning up after the party. Most people are too tired after the party to immediately start the cleanup. That is my policy. I’m thinking, perhaps if we wait until the next morning the partly cleanup fairies may show up during the night and knock out the mess. It hasn’t happened yet, but I am a man of faith. In the tradition of marrying your opposite, my wife, as soon as the last guest leaves, jumps right into cleaning. She can’t stand to go to bed with a mess waiting for her in the morning. I consider it a lack of faith on her part. Being married to me, you would think she would have gotten used to waking up to a mess.

 

The next post Easter question I ask is, “Where do we go from here?”

 

Unlike how many of us seem to live our lives, the church cannot become event oriented. Many of us tend to live from vacation to vacation, from holiday to holiday, from weekend to weekend. The daily “grind” of life is just endured so that we can get to the next big event. Our days are the repeated drudgery of: get up; go to work; pay the bills; fix our broken stuff; buy some more stuff to break; fix dinner; clean up the mess; get the kids under control; go to bed and then get up and do it all again. Day after day after day. All of this is made livable by the big events that we plan and enjoy.

 

Doing church and living the Christian life can seem to be quite similar to a daily grind. It is a strong and natural inclination for the church to seek to go from big event to big event. Events attract a crowd; attracting a crowd makes us feel good and successful. When we plan and carry out events we can easily see what is happening; we think we can measure whether or not the event is a success or not by measuring the attendance and normally we get some positive feedback.

 

Though many churches seem to be successful following the big event style of doing church, I would venture to say that unless attracting a crowd is the mission of the church, they are not successful. That is if we measure success in changed lives. I propose that the church measure success in the spiritual growth of individual people; in people coming to know God; in individuals experiencing His love and grace; in hurting people being healed of hurts, heartaches, brokenness, addictions, sin and the damage done by sin. If that is our bottom line, our measure of success, we can’t just spend our time planning, preparing for and rolling out the next big event.

 

As much as it seems like one, the church is not an entertainment venue. We are a church; the body of Christ – the physical representation of Jesus to this generation; a movement of God to bring His message of love, life, forgiveness and healing to a broken and hurting world. It is easy to get off the mission God has called us to if we forget that, even for an instant, the church is all about changed lives. And, as much as we like events, as often as we look forward to attending events, as much time and money we spend on events, events rarely produce changed lives.

 

Lives are changed through a daily walk with God. Lives are changed when we offer ourselves to God, daily, as living sacrifices on the altar of worship. Lives are changed when we take up our cross daily and follow Him. Lives are changed when we allow the Holy Spirit free reign, daily, in our lives. Lives are changed when we join forces with God in His basic work in our lives – to conform us to the image of Christ. Our lives are changed when we are willing to hang around with God long enough to have the mess cleaned up. The Christian life is lived daily, not from event to event.

 

So, the party is over. I am anxious to see who hangs around afterward to do the daily things God is calling us to. Are you a partier or are you a disciple? It is your choice. See you Sunday at worship.

 

Copyright © 2014, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved