I recently shared with the congregation about my time as a member of a church in Tulsa. The point I was making was that while I loved the church, attended the church faithfully, and supported the church financially, I didn’t feel truly connected to the church until I started serving. I served in the ex-alted position of Sunday night chair stacker.
I didn’t serve because I was looking for a position. I didn’t see my service as a stepping stone to something more visible or important. I served because I simply wanted to do my part to make the church better. I wanted to do something to shoulder my part of the burden. The feeling of connectedness was more or less a side effect.
That’s why I really appreciate every little thing you, the people of Living Word Family Church, do to make things work around here. One reason, anyway. I love that I don’t have to sweat a lot of details, organize armies of cleanup, setup, and tear down people. I love that so many things simply “work”. But I also love knowing that the fact that so many others are shouldering their share of the burden is also producing bonds of fellowship that are formed in the pursuit of common purpose.
A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link, but even the strongest link is useless unless it is linked to other links! We know this instinctively because we are made for community. This is a reflection of our creator. As Ravi Zacharias has said, “There is unity and diversity in creation because there is unity and diversity in the First Cause. There is unity and diversity in the community of the Trinity”.
So we long for that connection, that fellowship, which is why we try to provide opportunities -in the forms of family meals, fun nights, and other activities to facilitate that fellowship. But the sweetest fellowship, the most meaningful fellowship, is that which results –again, as a kind of side effect- from shared vision and common purpose.
We bond with those whom we serve, and we bond with those with whom we serve. So, for example, an usher experiences connection with a member or guest when he greets them in the entryway, and he bonds with the other ushers as they embrace the broader mission of hospitality, guidance, and security. The ushers as a group bond with the church and its leadership as they see themselves as a vital link in the process of cultivating an atmosphere where the church as a whole can fulfill its purpose.
And bringing this around to what we’ve been talking about on Sundays, the greatest thing we, as a church, are about is to glorify God. We do this in many ways, big and small. But that purpose finds its greatest and clearest expression in praise and worship.
We want you to be connected! You want to be connected! There are opportunities to fellowship, and opportunities to plug in and serve; take them! But the best, and I mean the BEST way to start is by preparing your heart for the worship service, and by participating wholeheartedly in it. When we, the body, lift our hands, our lives, and our voices as one to celebrate and honor the greatness of God, we find ourselves squarely in the middle of what we were created for. It is, indeed, the greatest thing we are capable of. Nothing, from stacking chairs to prophesying, will do more to connect us to God and to one another. I love the Lord; I love you. And I LOVE loving the Lord with you!
Blessings,
