(Significant Insignificance)
A friend of mine from a big church in my home state came in and consulted with our staff this weekend. He did a great job.
Ah, I can hear the “purists” now: “We don’t need to be bringing consultants in to tell us how to do church. The Holy Spirit is our consultant. The Bible is our cue sheet. Jesus is our producer.”
Well, Mr. Imaginary Person with whom I’m having an imaginary argument on my blog, after you’ve taken a look at this verse, think about this:
Is there anything on earth more important than what we do on Sunday mornings as the church of Jesus Christ?
We claim to:
1. Facilitate a meeting between human beings and God
2. Speak on behalf of God
3. Present a message that is a matter of life and death
That’s why we spent 7 hours yesterday afternoon after we’d all been up since 5 am and 4 more hours first thing this morning talking about things like:
The words appearing on the screen ½ second too late during the music set
The right amount of lighting on the stage at each and every point of the service
Gaps where the pipe pieces of our pipe and drape were visible and slightly distracting
The video taking 2.5 seconds too long to fire and leaving a small hole in the continuity of the service
And the list goes on. Some of the minutia would make you laugh. Or bore you to tears.
The best part? We don’t have staff members and volunteer leaders who cry about getting criticized. They welcome it. They beg for more. Gluttons for punishment, they are.
Why? Because the insignificant is significant when you’re doing it for an important purpose. Like flowers on a wedding day. Are flowers really important enough to argue and deliberate about for months? No. Flowers aren’t that important. But the wedding is. The marriage is. The ceremony deserves the utmost attention.
We expect this with weddings. But we piddle around in church. Shame on us.
Worshipping Jesus and preaching His gospel deserves more attention than any wedding. Or any business venture. The church has more at stake than Google or Trump.
We ain’t playin’ at Elevation. God deserves our best.
And He’ll deserve better than today’s best tomorrow.
That’s what I believe.
