In a Hurry

I live far too much of my life hurrying, sound familiar?

About a week ago though, there was an "incident" that a friend brought to my attention that made me stop and think about it all, especially as it relates to my hurry with God.

At St. Matthew (in our sanctuary worship services) we've got this quirk where at the end of the service people start running out the doors into the lobby, right as the final note of the closing song is being played. We don't do an "amen" or even the sacred pause like some of our more traditional counterparts do. The song is over and we run on to the next thing. Last week our new awesome Minister of Worship (aka Thomas Czinder) threw a curve ball to us, he repeated the final chorus of the closing song... and the bulletin didn't even say to do it, it was one of those free-flowing, let's get crazy and break all the rules, worship moments ;) But it didn't go over too well with the congregation. As one observer put it,

"People were stuck. They were half way out of their pews, and there was a whole other chorus to go. Some were embarrassed, set their things down quickly and started singing again. Some were confused and just stood wherever they were statue-like. And some were visibly indignant."

What's our hurry? Why is a 65 minute worship service intolerably long for so many of us? Are we really that overscheduled that we've even got important appointments at 11:57am on a Sunday? Perhaps this is part of the reason that the OT hebrews were so crazy about preserving the entire sabbath, because they were hoping for ONE DAY that people would slow down enough to not rush through the most important encounter of their week. Maybe this will help us all think a little bit more about how we approach that sacred "hour on Sunday"

It got me thinking for sure, about my own hurry. After all, Sunday is a big workday for me. When I end one worship service I'm off to the next thing. In some of our services I have to leave before one service is over to go to another part of our facility to preach at another! I am the FIRST ONE out of the sanctuary each and every week. I start the exodus from the worship area during the last verse of the closing song. So as one of the leaders, I'm going to try to slow down a bit too. Maybe that means I'll actually stay up front until the service is actually OVER before I head to the back to shake hands. Maybe that means that some weeks I won't rush to the back at all but will linger for a few moments in the richness of God's presence, love, mercy, and strength.

For those of you who go to St. Matthew (and those who don't) it's time for change, an internal change that banishes hurry from our worship experience so God can actually have his way with us. Let's not just say such things, or sing such things, but let's actually pause long enough to let God DO such things. Amen? (now you're free to run off to the next thing)