A Really Lame Hobby

I'm not gonna lie, I straight jacked the title of this post from several pastors that I've heard use it.  If you've ever heard Matt Chandler, Matt Carter, or Todd Kaunitz preach, you might know what I'm talking about.  If you haven't, you'll get it by the end of this post.  I mentioned in my last post that I was reading Crazy Love with some friends.  I also mentioned that our church here has been on fire of late like nothing I've ever been a part of.  I want to expand a little on these points.  In chapter 5, Francis Chan continues to talk about "lukewarm" Christianity and what it really looks like to follow Christ.  He makes some very hard statements and asks some really tough questions.  Malachi 1, verse 10 says "Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain!  I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand."  Chan helped me better understand this verse by explaining that God is saying "no worship is better than apathetic worship".  This hit me hard, because apathetic pretty much sums up the better part of the last 2 decades for me, particularly the last 8 years.

The last year and a half; however, has been something quite different, which brings me back to my church being on fire.  It isn't a particularly large church, but it is full of people from all ages and walks of life, many of whom I do not know.  I think about the past few weeks, worship in particular, and the things I've seen and heard all around me.  I've seen hands in the air.  I've seen people standing, some sitting with heads bowed.  I've see smiles, I've seen tears.  I've heard cheers of joy and literal outbursts of excitement.  I've looked to the left and seen an elderly gentlemen sitting among the many standing.  He sat because some ailment prevented him from standing. He was a large guy with a big, deep, beautiful, bellowing voice, and even though he sat hidden in the crowd, he sangs his heart out.  So much so that his voice stood out and redirected my attention to him.  I looked up at the choir and saw men and women of all ages.  There was a young woman, probably mid 30s, standing next to an older woman, probably mid 70s.  Both were singing their hearts out with huge smiles on their faces.  On the front row, right in front of me, amidst the 90 college students that attended that morning, a young man was worshipping with hands raised and he fell to his knees, face down on the floor and remained there until the song was complete.  The scene overwhelmed me because it was anything but "apathetic" worship.  Different hurts, different losses, different joys, different praises... all gathered together in one room worshipping the same God for the same reason.  As the last song built to its climax, the emotion in the room built also, and as we sang...

Oh death, where is your sting?

Oh hell, where is your victory?

Oh church, come stand in the light

Our God is not dead

He's Alive, He's ALIVE!!!

...the room absolutely exploded into cheer and I became so overcome with emotion that I could barely contain myself.  It was all I could do not to throw my hands in the air... which has always weirded me out a little, to be honest.  Not any more.  Get your proper worship on, by all means! (still don't know if I can be a hands guy though :)  It's a very weird deal, this whole thing... and it points back to the title of this post.  Church is a lame hobby!  The scene I just described above is a strange one, and if there isn't genuine love for Jesus and the cross occurring in your heart, it seems like an odd thing to participate in on a Sunday.  

Now a skeptic or a cynic (as in myself a year ago) might chalk all this emotion and joy to the "heat of the moment" or the emotional riffs of the guitars.  Ok.  Maybe.  But I could barely type the lyrics above without getting choked up.  It just doesn't make sense.  Anyone that knows me knows that it makes no sense because a year ago, everything I've described above would have absolutely made me want to "oversleep" on Sunday morning.  I didn't experience this 180 degree turn by mere chance and circumstance.  That really doesn't make sense.  The whole thing is just further proof for me that there is a God who is full of mercy and grace.  It's a testament to His transforming power through the Holy Spirit.  And it's the reason we act like a bunch of weirdos on Sunday mornings!