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Sunday Morning Appetizer
by Nicholas Lewis As a Christian growing up I usually looked forward to Sunday morning church. It was the event of the week, the time when you dressed up, met with all your friends, ate an array of breakfast trays (at least the Southern Baptists do), giggled and drank coffee in the morning class, sang the words on the screen, dozed during the long pastor's sermon, and if we were lucky we got to eat out with another family. Sunday Morning was the climax, finale, and anticipated (not always in a positive way) moment of the week. For some Christians its the recharge time, others the stressful time, and for most its the bottom-of-the-checklist task. But I'm going to be honest, I am beginning to learn that Sunday morning should not be the main event of a Christian's life. In fact it needs to be far from it. We treat Sunday as the holy day of worshiping God or the day we grow and have our little spiritual heights and revelations. But shouldn't every day be a time for growth and worshiping God? Should we not treat every day as holy, I mean God did create every day. I want to tell you guys about my Sunday mornings for the past couple of months. I began attending this small town church. I first was looking for a church with a thriving college ministry, but being it was in the summer in a small university town I had a hard time finding one. So I came upon this small church, little to show for to be honest, but it had something about it. I went to the adult class, but the class was full of senior age women with one man and a 25 year old for a teacher! Interestingly enough there was work to do in this church because it was just restarting back up with a low attendance. There was even more to do in the surrounding neighborhood, the poorest part of the entire town. I ended up coming back another 3 to 4 weeks with these older folks. I remember hearing the new pastor talk about loving the neighborhood and being a church of action and missions. The man was on fire for God! God sparked a desire and anticipation for the week ahead in me. I approached the pastor, didn't even really know this guy. My parents were out of town and had just come this one week for the first time, but I went up to him and said I wanted to help. From then on every Sunday during the sermon I sat with anticipation, excitement, even a bit of anxiousness, and a desire to start working Monday. I looked forward to growing during the week and building relationships with the community. I never felt that excited before during the church service. I found that Sunday morning was no longer my main event. I mean think about. God does say Sunday is a day of rest, but we treat it as the only day that we work to serve the community, have fellowship, and hear God's Word. I'm not saying we need to stop attending church on Sunday, but we need to not look at that morning as kingdom work for the week. We reach the community in our everyday lives, we grow in the everyday things of life. Sunday should not be the meal of the week, it should be the appetizer for the week. It should fuel us and create excitement and vigor and zeal for what comes next. I think there is a reason why Monday sucks for a lot of people. We tend to hate work and when the main event is over for us we go back to normal things so to say. Last time I checked being a follower of Christ was far more adventurous than the lifestyle so many American Christians choose to live. The opportunities to love the people around us (everyone we come in contact with including the McDonald's guy who takes my order), endure trials, trust God, have joy, and speak with God rarely happen where we are most comfortable. We find little of those opportunities behind the church's brick walls. You find them on the streets of the days to come in the week. Sunday Morning is the appetizer, the week is the meal we are waiting for. Don't rush the Maitre D', He's got a plan and we just need to follow it. My name is Nicholas Lewis and am currently studying to be a biblical counselor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and am also helping jumpstart a youth group at a local church. My hope is to also someday become a published Christian writer. Email: five [email protected] Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |