What to do After Church? MMM 8-16-2010

WHAT WILL WE DO AFTER CHURCH TODAY?

Monday Morning Message, August 16, 2010

On this Sunday in 2005, part of our team attended a church service in one of the townships just outside of Cape Town South Africa.  To call this a church for someone from the USA was outside of my limited understanding.  When we arrived at a modest home which we would think of more like a farm tool shed or a makeshift garage, I hardly knew what to expect.  The people greeted us and invited us into worship which had already been going on for an hour or so.  Soon we were praying together, singing together, and studying God’s Word from the Pastor’s message. 

The backless benches were not very comfortable on my ample bottom and yet there was something intriguing about the people and their joy at worshipping God.  The small amplifier and three microphones were being manned by three young women in their teens and their voices were both beautiful as was their spirit of worship.  We were told that almost half of the people there that Sunday were HIV positive and two of the attendee’s family members had died that week from Aids related complications.  We stayed for almost an hour and then we were scheduled to be at another venue that day to share the Gospel.  They were still worshipping when we left and the pastor told us they would normally worship another two or three hours.

As I sometimes let my mind wander during a one hour Sunday morning worship time, it bothers me that I cannot duplicate the focus and joy that I observed that day.  The thirty people in this church will forever affect my desire to worship more like them.  When they knew we were leaving, they formed a line for us to greet everyone there and then when we were heading out, more music and worship emanated from that structure.  Now that structure that seemed too meager and simple for me to grant it official “church” status, has forever moved to the top of my list for what it means to be sold out to Christ at both worship and in our total lives.  Next time you start to think about where you are going for lunch after church, think about our brothers and sisters in Christ who worship in simpler ways than we do, but have no problem reaching into the heart of God!

I Corinthians 1:26-27 (RSV) “For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.  God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” 

 
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