How vs. Why

I love my church. I love serving there, I love the people. I love learning about how we do church with our pastors, and how important it is for the church to do things excellently as a light in the world that brings honour to Jesus.

Danny and I get to do neat things with church all the time, and it reminds me a little of Acts 2. We decorate things...

We get eat lots of yummy things together, like crazy-choclate-y batches of Susan's brownies...

And we get to be part of an amazing group of people who want to make a difference in the world.

  

But sometimes I get the feeling that I'm getting a little task-oriented when it comes to church life. I'm so grateful for all of the opportunities I'm given to learn how it all gets put together, but I know that there's got to be a better way when I sometimes feel overwhelmed or really tired.And I finally understood why last Tuesday evening around 8pm.

Because last Tuesday at 8pm, as Danny and I were taking our friend home from sharing dinner with us, I was bequeathed with a moment of clarity. Our friend is a beautiful person. He is incredibly loving and very considerate, and he also happens to be mentally and physically disabled. He is very social, but he lives by himself, and I was struck by the possibility that his life might be very lonely for him at times. 

I HATE that. Maybe I've been focussed on the How of doing church, but I had a great big smack in the face of Why we do church in the first place. I don't want anyone to be lonely if there is no reason why they should be. I just want to be able to welcome everyone into my church family with open arms so we can love them and help them to not be lonely anymore, and show them the love of God. Because that's really why we come together at all. It doesn't matter how cool or smooth church services are, and whether or not we remain on the cutting edge of technology if people can walk through the doors and experience the incredible love and acceptance of a group of people that love and honour Jesus. I hope that I never lose sight of that again.