Sunday mornings—we wake up well-rested and in anticipation of the extended opportunity to focus on God in the company of our friends and family. While sipping our morning coffee, we prepare for church by reading the Scripture passage to be preached that day, and then we commit the day to God in prayer, asking that he be the focus of all we say and do. We get dressed and organized, and before we leave the house, we prepare our gift for the offering plate, tucking the offering envelope into our Bible for easy access, and out the door we go. We arrive at church at least ten minutes before the service starts so we can get settled and quiet our minds and hearts.
Does that describe your typical Sunday morning? Perhaps it does. For many of us, however, it describes our intention for Sunday morning, but the real thing looks much different. Instead of reading through the sermon text, we stand in our closet trying to figure out what to wear. Why does this seem to matter more on Sundays? "I want to honor God by looking my best," we might say, but let's not kid ourselves. God cares much more about how our hearts and minds are dressed, and we know it. After about the sixth attempted outfit, we begin to panic; we are cutting it close. So we grab our Bible, dash out the door, and start the car, leaving it in park while we run back inside for the forgotten offering envelope, and then we break the traffic laws on our way to worship God. With five minutes to go, we cut off a car or two and skate through yellow lights while fumbling in our purse for our box of mints, only to realize we ran out last Sunday and forgot to buy a new tin. At that point, we resign ourselves to the fact that we are just going to be late. We absolutely have to stop at the 7-Eleven. After all, it's better to miss the first hymn than to great our friends without minty breath. Finding a space in the church parking lot at 11:05 is tricky, so by the time we arrive for worship, we've missed not only the opening hymn but the announcements and the reciting of the Apostles' Creed. We excuse ourselves as we push our way into the pew where our friends are sitting, disrupting everyone around us in the process. But, hey, at least we look good and have fresh breath. Before we've even settled in, we realize the offering plate is being passed just two rows in front of us, so we rustle around in our purse for the checkbook and pen and hastily write, only to have the plate pass us by before we're finished. Another Sunday morning, come and gone.
Certainly there are going to be Sundays like this. (After all, the devil might be especially busy playing head games on Sunday mornings in an effort to do all he can to keep our focus anywhere but where it should be.) But such Sundays should be the exception rather than the rule. Worshiping God on Sundays really begins on Saturday night, my pastor used to say, and over time I've realized the wisdom of his words. Staying out late on Saturday night, for many of us, brings with it the temptation to skip Sunday school the next day and causes us to yawn our way through the sermon. But for most of us, partying it up on Saturday night isn't the primary hindrance to a God-honoring Lord's Day; it's what we do after dawn. Here's how Daniel Owens sums it up:
Does that describe your typical Sunday morning? Perhaps it does. For many of us, however, it describes our intention for Sunday morning, but the real thing looks much different. Instead of reading through the sermon text, we stand in our closet trying to figure out what to wear. Why does this seem to matter more on Sundays? "I want to honor God by looking my best," we might say, but let's not kid ourselves. God cares much more about how our hearts and minds are dressed, and we know it. After about the sixth attempted outfit, we begin to panic; we are cutting it close. So we grab our Bible, dash out the door, and start the car, leaving it in park while we run back inside for the forgotten offering envelope, and then we break the traffic laws on our way to worship God. With five minutes to go, we cut off a car or two and skate through yellow lights while fumbling in our purse for our box of mints, only to realize we ran out last Sunday and forgot to buy a new tin. At that point, we resign ourselves to the fact that we are just going to be late. We absolutely have to stop at the 7-Eleven. After all, it's better to miss the first hymn than to great our friends without minty breath. Finding a space in the church parking lot at 11:05 is tricky, so by the time we arrive for worship, we've missed not only the opening hymn but the announcements and the reciting of the Apostles' Creed. We excuse ourselves as we push our way into the pew where our friends are sitting, disrupting everyone around us in the process. But, hey, at least we look good and have fresh breath. Before we've even settled in, we realize the offering plate is being passed just two rows in front of us, so we rustle around in our purse for the checkbook and pen and hastily write, only to have the plate pass us by before we're finished. Another Sunday morning, come and gone.
Certainly there are going to be Sundays like this. (After all, the devil might be especially busy playing head games on Sunday mornings in an effort to do all he can to keep our focus anywhere but where it should be.) But such Sundays should be the exception rather than the rule. Worshiping God on Sundays really begins on Saturday night, my pastor used to say, and over time I've realized the wisdom of his words. Staying out late on Saturday night, for many of us, brings with it the temptation to skip Sunday school the next day and causes us to yawn our way through the sermon. But for most of us, partying it up on Saturday night isn't the primary hindrance to a God-honoring Lord's Day; it's what we do after dawn. Here's how Daniel Owens sums it up:
Some people say we should wear our best for God. Well, I think God is more interested in what's in my heart while sitting in church than what label I'm wearing. Can you imagine telling God, "Lord, I wore this Ralph Lauren polo shirt that cost $75 for you?" Or "Lord. I just came to praise your name in my Liz Claiborne suit because you deserve my best?" Jesus quoted Jonah when he warned the Pharisees, who put so much emphasis on the externals, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain . . ." Such a sin is so subtle, but when we spend too much time fixing ourselves up for church or any other public event, secretly wanting people to notice us, we are falling short of God's will. We are not as concerned about their seeing the Spirit of Christ in us as we are about their noticing how well we look. That's pride.
Labels: godly character
5 Comments:
Lydia,
Thanks for another thought prevoking post. Not so long ago, my husband and I read Joshua Harris' book, "Stop Dating the Church: Fall in Love with the Famiy of God." It has a helpful little chapter in it called "Rescuing Sunday: How to get more from the Best Day of the Week." It has a few helpful hints challenging our view of Sundays, how we spend Saturday evenings and what it means to be joining with others on Sunday morning.
I had a giggle to myself as I read your post, because being a mum of three and a pastor's wife more often than not means finding myself running around trying to feed and dress all three children before finally realising that you can't go to church in your dressing gown and that you must get dressed also! The whole getting to church experience for our family often sadly parallels that of being thrown into a whirlwind, tossed around and spat out just in time to get into the car to go to church - hardly a time for getting your heart and mind focussed on God and his Word. Unlike the situation you are describing, there is no time to spend endless amounts of time wondering what to wear! Church isn't so much about turning up and wondering what others think about us and how we look, it's more about a sense of achievement and others recognising that you are more than a capable wife and mother who has managed to get all her kids out to church, clean, fed and dressed as well as having ironed and tied the knot in her husbands tie to make him presentable before the congregation. Unfortuantely, at times it can even become about depositing our kids off to Sunday School, knowing that you're going to get some peace and quiet for 45 minutes through the sermon.
However, behind it all lies the same issue and Sunday fails to be the best day of the week as it should. Therefore, we've had to be strict about implementing changes, become more disciplined about preparing clothes and setting out breakfast the night before and above all, getting to bed early!
Nicki,
Thanks for sharing the perspective from the married side of Sunday morning--and that of a pastor's family to boot!
I have heard other mothers echo exactly what you are saying. It really makes it clear that we singles are blessed with time freedoms, which makes us all the more culpable for our mishandling of Sunday mornings.
Blest day of God! Most calm, most bright,
The first, the best of days;
The laborer’s rest; the saint’s delight,
The day of prayer and praise.
My Saviour’s face made thee to shine;
His rising did thee raise,
And made thee heavenly and divine
Beyond all other days.
The first-fruits oft a blessing prove
To all the sheaves behind;
And they the day of Christ who love,
A happy week shall find.
This day I must with God appear;
For Lord, the day is Thine;
Help me to spend it in Thy fear,
And thus to make it mine. --John Mason, 1683
I have often joked that Satan sits on my kitchen counter (I'm sure HE can find room there for his slippery self) and laughs as my family gets ready for church. Inside my head I'm screaming prayers, like arrows or bullets at the Lord: "HELP ME! how can I go to church with a worshipful attitude when "XYZ" is happening" or "God, are you watching? Please, I need wisdom, mercy... I need You to come down and get this family in the car!"... Some Sundays are so hard, I get to church and hide somewhere during Sunday school... just me with my Bible trying desperately to find the right focus and the right attitude, only to realize that it isn't IN me... I don't have what it takes... I can make all the right plans, laying out the clothes, reading the right passage the night before... but there are five other people whose hearts I cannot prepare... It's not about what I do... it's about who I trust... who I focus on... who I lean on... I'm not dismissing the value in planning and laying out clothes and preparing our hearts; those are all good things... but there is no formula that promises a good day or an easy morning... I've gone out of my mind trying to think what I could do better next time... the thing I am trying to remember, the thing I am desperate to teach my children, is that whatever the circumstance, our only hope of getting it right is to look to God in each and every moment. Like the manna that He provided daily for FORTY YEARS, He has the grace that we need for each moment. I can't run on yesterday's grace, it's "moldy" like yesterday's manna... I need it fresh (and sometimes, I need it fresh each hour).
Have you been peeking in my window and following me around on Sunday mornings?
Marc
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