{"id":1054,"date":"2010-12-09T07:52:51","date_gmt":"2010-12-09T14:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/one-church.net\/crosseyedlife\/?p=1054"},"modified":"2010-12-09T07:54:08","modified_gmt":"2010-12-09T14:54:08","slug":"i-havent-been-to-church-in-a-long-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/2010\/12\/09\/i-havent-been-to-church-in-a-long-time\/","title":{"rendered":"I haven’t been to church in a long time"},"content":{"rendered":"

I haven’t been to church in a long time.<\/p>\n

That may come as a surprise to many of you who see me each weekend… preaching.<\/p>\n

Yes, I am aware that some of you extremely spiritual pastors out there will argue with me about my own spiritual state if I don’t feel like I’m at church whenever I am in the pulpit.<\/p>\n

Don’t bother commenting on this post, I’ll just delete it… yeah, I said it!<\/p>\n

So, back to my initial statement, I haven’t been to church in a long time.<\/p>\n

Last weekend in our faith community was amazing. We hit record high numbers, our offering was through the roof, we baptized on Saturday and Sunday, we celebrated the installation of a new campus pastor, launched our brand-new Christmas series, and I got to preach five times in three buildings in two cities with four different worship teams… You better hang it up, because that was off the hook!<\/p>\n

In reality, while that was an absolutely stellar weekend for CrossPoint, I went home tired, again.<\/p>\n

I was beating myself up because I knew I should’ve been on a spiritual high after a weekend like that, but the truth was I was worn out and not nearly as pumped as I should’ve been.<\/p>\n

That’s when it hit me, I haven’t been to church in a long time. The last time I sat and listened to somebody preach, or stood with the body of believers to sing while not being pulled to the side for \u201cjust a minute of your time, pastor\u201d or to frantically fix some technical issue was July (basically, half a year ago).<\/p>\n

I know that you can get good quality teaching through some podcast, but I’m a pastor and I really believe this when I say it: there is just something really important about being in a body of believers!<\/p>\n

So, I opened my eyes up to look for an opportunity, and there it was. Just down the street from my house is Trinity United Methodist Church. They were having a Christmas vespers service an hour before I had to preach at our church. I was pretty sure I could slip in and out undetected since Baptists and Methodists don’t fraternize.<\/p>\n

Okay, that was supposed to be a joke. Don’t amen that.<\/p>\n

The church was beautiful, and I loved the sound of the musicians rehearsing Joy to the World echoing through the halls. It was helpful, I did not know where I was going and assumed that if I followed the sound that I would eventually find the right place.<\/p>\n

When I found them, I was shocked! As the church was showing up they were all filling the seats from the back to the front. I had a no idea that back row Methodists even existed. I completely thought that was our thing.<\/p>\n

I found a spot near the back, but had to sit fairly close to stranger. It was either that, or sit up front and that wasn’t going to happen.<\/p>\n

I listened to the choir finish up their rehearsal, and then watch them gather in front of the stage to pray for the service. I heard phrases like \u201cLord use us,\u201d \u201cthank you for Christmas,\u201d and \u201clet Your light shine.\u201d I was totally refreshed thinking that just a couple blocks from my house was a church that loved Jesus and wanted to make a difference in their community.<\/p>\n

Huh, who knew?<\/p>\n

There was an awkward moment or two before the service started. The man I was sitting a little uncomfortably close too seemed to be getting a little fidgety. I thought maybe I was disturbing him, and considered moving to give him some space… I mean, this was his church.<\/p>\n

But, before I could move he spoke: \u201cThat’s a nice watch you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kind of random, sure, but as a paid clergy professional I knew out he was doing. He was finding any way to start a conversation with me, to make me feel welcome, to reach out from his church. He was awesome.<\/p>\n

And, now I know a whole lot more about watches (it’s what he does for a living).<\/p>\n

The service started and we sang. Old Christmas carols, some hymns, there was a special with a choir soloist (wow, I haven’t heard that in a long time), some scripted segues between the songs and a couple of prayers. It was beautiful.<\/p>\n

There were people all around me who couldn’t sing very well, but they were loud. It was beautiful.<\/p>\n

There was a little girl running laps behind the seating area, and even though her mother wasn’t smiling about… everyone else was! It was beautiful.<\/p>\n

Songs were sung, encouragement was given, prayers were offered, and I just sat there drinking it all in. It was beautiful.<\/p>\n

Absolutely, it was beautiful. So different from who we are as a faith community, yet, so much the same.<\/p>\n

Still, I had to preach in 15 minutes across town… so, I ran out the door. I was sad to go.<\/p>\n

I’ve been trying to process for the last few hours what I felt in that experience:<\/p>\n