"Our society has no sense of duty in the committed and consistent view that says “I won't miss church for rain or distraction, tiredness or anything else.”"
It is a shame that the post office is more committed to their task than a lot of church goers are. Maybe I am wrong. I really hope I am. It could be that I live in Southern California and we are just a bunch of big babies. Any time a little rain falls out of the sky the news is broadcasting "Storm Watch" and the roads are flooded (no, not with water) with accidents.
So then the perfect storm of cold and wet on a Sunday morning and our attendance drops. I don't care who you are or where you are from if you are a pastor your hearts desire is to see people in church. What is worse than not having people in church is not having people in church for a stupid reason. I'll overlook traveling to be with family on a holiday weekend but a little rain?! Come on!
What it takes to turn this around is committed people doing what it takes to get to church. Those people when they get there have an encounter with God and then they need to tell everyone they know who wasn't there that they all missed out. Next time those who missed out might think twice before staying home. In fact I suspect the more fun, the deeper we go, the more expression of the Spirit on the small nights the more people will desire to be there. Maybe I am crazy.
What do you think? How can we help others to be committed to church rain or shine?
I hope you will forgive older people who are not so sure of driving as it is. The older a person gets the harder it is to drive even in good weather. But beyond that I think people should be in church too but I do have to admit I have missed for reasons that were not really reasons. The few times it has happened I have felt true conviction about not being there in person. All I can say is that the people in the states that snow are in Church. We really have no excuse here in mostly sunny, rarely wet, California.
ReplyDeleteOf coarse exceptions apply and I wouldn't call that a 'stupid reason' but rather wisdom. There are people who suffer from night blindness who won't drive at night. My comments are more towards those who would rather 'tuck in' because they were cozy rather than get uncomfortable to get to church. Thanks for clarifying.
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