The Call To Worship

 

The Call To Worship

     Yah, but why?  A thousand reasons not to make the trip from warm covers to a cold pew.  Ducking under the doorway, doing the singing and waiting, then existing out to a Chief’s game on the tube.  A weekend show.  It just wasn’t as entertaining as Saturday morning cartoons.  Hopefully the message was more intellectually challenging.

     Corporate worship is just that.  Togetherness.  The term in this sense describes individual believers coming together as one.  What is done in secret is now exposed unashamedly.  That Jesus person deserves some extra special attention, and we show that when we come together.

     Still, gotta wake up for something.  If the first cup of coffee isn’t enough then the greeting of the family may be provoking enough to get those feet on the floor.  When His children come together, magic happens or at least it is supposed to.

     What if affections poured out and hugs could not be stayed?  Firm handshakes, pats on the back, and sure expressions of care lifting every eye in consideration to each other’s voiced need.  God says kiss.  Intimacy on a Sunday goes deeper than casual greetings of a businessman on the street.

     I confess my sin.  I have never been into the dwellings of any of my brothers or sisters.  My knowledge of them is superficial in the two-hour face time in God’s house.  As a pastor helping to guide little ones about the path, I lack visual basics.  Furthermore, a meal sharing in fellowship is a distant dream.  This creates a temptation I call “we/they.”

     Diffusion of a bomb is understanding in compassion.  When my sisters bring their frustrations to meeting, do I really understand?  Not knowing their confines, I elude and shuffle off in disregard until the time lapses and we disband to separateness again.  Lord, this must stop.

     You have called us to intimacy.  A wanting of togetherness starts with a background check.  What structures hold us the other days of the week?  Windows dim, doors are locked, the house keeps secrets we can gun down with a simple hello on the doorstep.

     Togetherness does not have to stop at the bell.  Brothers and sisters can share past the teacher’s message.  Recess is known as the merry-go-round is spun.  Kicking the ball, we interact in a back-and-forth fashion.  Sally falls on the concrete, cries, and is comforted.  We huddle to plan the attack in unison.  What we learned in grade school can happen again.

     Lord permit.  It does not have to be great.  It just starts with a want to then goes from there.  A simple cleaving of us one to another wanting to further the church experience past time allotted.

     A hermit keeps to himself.  His circle is extremely tight.  Socially he spins about an axis like a figure skater.  Unless his eyes are trained to fix a target, dizziness comes to his head.  Flaying about, embarrassment questions his technique.  With fingers in his ears and eyes shut tight, his bloodied nose bounces off the slick underlayment.

     The commandment given means we can walk on water.  Not judged by His law, we fulfill His law in love.  But love’s character is warmth.  Ice has no place.  Hearts together ignite the flame of Pentecost.  He still gives liberally without reproach.

     Maybe Jesus has called us to a pool party with live music.  Does He not want to see His children happy and embracing?  Crack open another beer?  Well, we’ve got the wine.  “Love feasts” He used to call them.  What can’t be orchestrated in a mortgaged worship center can be constructed in familiarity called home.

     A call to worship.  When we cling in His name, they will know us as peculiar people. 

^{Acts 2:46 “}And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,”

     This is a fancy phrase for hanging out, chillin’.  Singleness of heart meant, “I want to spend the day with you.”  Big or small, short or tall, rich to poor, the Spirit gave the desire of oneness.  Just as Babel dispersed, He comes again to unite.  For men and women to experience what He has wanted for ages compelled Him to send His Son.  The Bridge to something better.  Affections on the other side of the chasm brightens the cliff of despair.

     We, as creatures, are not to be alone.  Suicide comes after isolation snuffs the lone coal.  Perhaps our Father’s wanting is a good inoculation against a wafting plague driving through the winds of change.  We lose faces then we lose footings.  Dissimilarity about strains our souls as “no one knows us.”  We pull into our shells and stop crawling.  On our butts is where the enemy wants us.  Grounded, our frame feels real coldness coming up from beneath.  If the runner sits at the starting line, surely something is wrong.  Disease is pronounced.  “Call the doctor!”

     Paul says to run the race, but he doesn’t say to run the marathon alone.  Get the picture of the cross-country team traversing the obstacles of life together.  He calls this church.

     Lord, I am sorry I have been a loner.  It is dangerous for me to keep to myself.  Windex to my rescue!   Let me clean and open windows of vulnerability today.  Trust is hard.  I heard Your church is only filled with hypocrites.  Perhaps I am one also.  Pleasure I can take eating with sinners and tax collectors.  At least there, the popcorn is free and we can cheer together.