I LOVE the church.
As a kid going to church all my life, I remember thinking that “big church” is a boring place where all you do is yawn, eat peppermints and smarties, and sing hymns. Now…I’m a worship pastor and up until about 3 years ago my idea on the church still hadn’t changed all that much. I realized something then. That selfish 6 year old mentality hadn’t necessarily left me. I was still stuck looking to be “entertained” by the worship and the message. Instead of dictating how good the service was by how many packs of smarties I ate or how many communion bread pieces I could grab, I was dictating how good it was by how smooth the pastors transitions were, how good the worship set was built, how cheesy the screen backgrounds were (aka digital juice!), and how many times I got goosebumps (because as you know…that’s how you know the Spirit is there). I was so caught up in my selfish misconceptions of what the church was missing that I missed all of the true ministry going on all around me.
I never thought for a minute to look around me and see how the same message I was so harshly critiquing was hitting people on a real level. I never really saw past the cheesy motion backgrounds to see the lyrics that were on the screens that were ministering to so many of the people singing around me. I never got past myself enough to see what God was doing in that place. To see the people He was connecting with through the very things I was critiquing!
Being a worship pastor I don’t get a lot of Sunday’s to just go to church and participate, but I did get to do that a couple of Sunday’s ago. I was standing in the back of the room during our first service of the day while the band was playing after the message. The set built to the song “Happy Day” by Tim Hughes. I’m sure you’ve heard it…a thousand times:) When the first chorus started I noticed a little girl next to her grandma in the back of the room. She started jumping so excitedly and doing some motions to the song when it got to the chorus. You know, the “O” above the head and then the two handed wave from side to side? So…I watch this girl do this motion the first chorus. The rest of the room is singing, but no hand motions. A man across the room sees the girl doing this and gets this look on his face like, “I don’t think so.” Second chorus hits and this girl, if it were at all possible, is even MORE into singing this song with the motions and she gets her grandma doing this too! When the grandma starts doing the hand motions then the rest of her section of seating starts doing this as well. The man across the room sees the section and sporadic people around the room doing this and his, “I don’t think so” look turns into “Ok…that’s cute.” When the third and fourth choruses hit a majority of the room is doing this as well as the man from across the room. He lets it go man! Crazy happy smile across his face and waving his arms so energetically that he was almost hitting the people around him in the face…but they were doing it to so they didn’t seem to care. It was an incredible and moving moment! From a 7 year old girl to an 80 year old man, and all in between, the room of people were openly and joyfully worshipping their God. In that moment I had no idea what was on the screen and it didn’t matter. God was ministering to an entire room of people through the worship of a seven year old girl.
The church is so beautiful! It may not always be what you expect and it may not always be flawless, but it is exactly what we as followers of Jesus need.
Next time you’re struggling through a message or set, just look around and see what it is that God is doing in the room before you decide that the day was a win or fail.
