Sunday, September 6, 2015

Missing Worship

September 6, 2015

An interesting end to a warm Labor Day Sunday...Linda and I had gone to one of her sisters for our annual Labor Day corn roast, returning home about 10:15 to see a truck parked by the side of the road down by the swimming hole. Grabbing a flashlight and some protection, we went down to investigate, only to find a young man asleep, feet dangling over the edge of the abutment. The flashlight shining in his eyes not waking him, it took me nudging him with my toe before he stirred. "This is private property, and it's pretty late," I told him.

"I didn't think this part was private." How many times have I heard that? He got up lowly. I thought he was going to topple into the creek before he unsteadily got to his feet and wandered off to his truck. I couldn't smell any alcohol on him, but I think his truck was hitting on more cylinders than he was.

The day began pretty normally for a Sunday, with a quick breakfast before heading to church. This morning I was scheduled for the media booth, which is where I spent the worship hour. When I got home, it felt like something just wasn't right, but it took some reflection to figure out what it was. Here's what I learned: Some time ago, one of my son Matthew's students was told playing on his phone in class with the excuse that he was multi-tasking, Matt's response as he confiscated the phone: "You can't even task!" That's me. When I am running the video for worship, I'm so focused on the technical part of things that I don't really worship. So although I was there listening to the songs, anticipating the lyrics and putting up the Scripture for Joe's sermon, I missed out on what I really needed.

I don't understand those who come to worship sporadically. For me, missing out on it even while I was with my brothers and sisters prevented me from starting the week the way I need. There's something missing inside me. I am thankful that this only happens occasionally, and that most of the time I get to begin my week with people I love in the presence of the God I love.

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