In the last two Mid-Week Updates we have looked at the Sunday Service at Grafted Community Church and wondered how we can use it well. First we talked about how to use Sunday to connect with people whom you have not connected for a while.  Next we talked about how the worship that takes place in the 90 minutes on Sunday should never overshadow the worship that takes place in the other 10,000 minuets in the week.

This week I want us to consider how important those 90 minutes are to those who have a hard time worshiping God throughout the week.  First I want us to remember that every single one of us was once in the situation where we only encountered God for the 90 minutes on Sunday at some point in our lives.  I grew up in the church, went to Sunday school and then a service nearly every Sunday.  I was a part of the children’s choir and then the kid’s activities most Wednesdays.  I went to VBS, volunteered at VBS, and was a part of the team that ran VBS.  I was fed by the church and feeding others in the church long before I figured out that worshiping God in the other 10,000 minutes of the week was important.  (And if I am honest, there are still far too many weeks these days that I don’t use my 10,000 other minutes to honor God well.)

We have all been there; some of us are there; and in the future there will be more.  Some of us have never considered how God’s grace interacts with our day to day lives.  Some of us have barely considered how God’s grace interacts with our eternities.  Some of us have never considered how our sin and brokenness effect our day to day lives.  Some of us have never considered how our sin and brokenness have left us in a place where eternity is hopeless without God’s intervention. And, most importantly, it is my prayer that there are people in our lives right now that have absolutely no idea who God is, who they are, and who God has called them to be in light of what He has done for them.  As we reach out and serve our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers who are in different transitions, we will gain a foothold in their lives to be able to speak truth to them about the love of God.  Inviting them to join our community on a Sunday can be a great way to help them see what being loved by God can look like.

While the 90 minutes on a Sunday for some of us might be a chance to be reminded and encouraged to go out worship God throughout the rest of the week, for some of us, and for people who don’t yet know how much Jesus loves them, the 90 minutes on Sunday is the only time they get to worship God throughout their week.  I want all of us to consider how we are loving those who are in the latter boat. The best way for me to do a self-diagnostic is to go through a list of questions, so I hope these help you:

• Is the way that I am conducting myself at church a distraction to others (do my actions take the focus off of God and put it on me)?
• Does what I am doing help others to interact with God (do my actions take the focus off of me and point people to God)?
• What can I do right now to help other people meet with God?
• The circle that the Titanic would have carved out while turning at top speed had a diameter of nearly three quarters of a mile.  The turning radius of a person coming into Grafted for the first time, while running at break-neck speed, is already big enough, does my action or inaction help or hinder a person turning over their lives to Christ?