The Comfort of the Motions

Yesterday was one of the two BIG days in the life of the New Testament church –Resurrection Sunday! I was really looking forward to being able to celebrate Easter with my family and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
The day began with the Easter Sunrise service with the church that my family and I are members of. I had the privilege of preaching the message at that service. The service was outside – and it was a bit cold! It actually was the first time I have preached in a setting where I could “blow smoke” – because of the cold temperature. (Actually others have accused me of “blowing smoke” in my preaching before – but a different kind! LOL!) What grabbed my attention was not the songs of praise that we sang or the amazing message that was preached (it was pretty amazing!). But what grabbed my attention was the murmuring of “discomfort” that was present because of the cold temperature. Heaven forbid that we might have to be a little cold while we worship on Resurrection Sunday!
Later that morning, I attended the corporate worship service at the same church. As expected, the sanctuary was packed with people. I was upstairs in the sound booth area watching the people come into the sanctuary. Prior to coming upstairs, I noticed two young teenage girls who were guests. They were looking for a place to sit and could not find one. But what “bothered” me was that nobody seemed to care to help them find a place to sit. Everyone was “comfortable” with where they were. When I went upstairs, these two teenage girls also showed up in this area that was not designed for sitting – much less for guests. So I talked with them about finding a sit – not with much success. Eventually a “reserved” row was opened, and they made their way to that row of seats. Right after the worship service began, I noticed a family with 3 or 4 children/teens arrived – and they were in search for a place to sit as well. Once again, not much concern from others because of the “comfort” issue. This family made their way to the front of the church to what they thought was a row of seats, much to their surprise not to be so. So they turned around facing the congregation looking for some seats – Ugh! Eventually they found a row that had just enough space for them to sit at – next to one of the church leaders. The church leader allowed them to sit there – but it seemed as if this leader was more interested in watching what was happening on the platform instead of making it “easy” for this family to get seated and feel welcomed. I began to feel a bit more uneasy about what was going on this Resurrection Sunday so far. Then as I “watched” the “worship service” I noticed all of the people taking pictures of the activities and videoing the activities (including myself with video camera in hand). All of that caused me to begin to think to myself, “What in the world are we doing here? Were we here to worship and celebrate our risen Lord and Savior? Or were we here to be entertained in the comfort of our Christian bubble?” Instead of being spiritually challenged and moved, I began to be physically sickened to my stomach.
Later that day I began to think to myself that maybe I had just “missed the boat” in what I had experienced that day. But that evening my family and I attended a “worship service” at another local church – one that a friend of my daughter attended. Their drama group was leading the worship service that night. When my family and I arrived, the church was already full. The gathered group was not that large, so it was obvious that we were guests. Yet as we searched for seats, nobody really seemed to care that we were wandering around with no success in finding seats. Finally, the father of my daughter’s friend saw what was happening and he scurried to find us some seats to be seated in. During this process, he asked a couple of people to move over, and honestly they seemed a little upset that they had to be moved out of their “comfortable place”. Then once again I “watched” this “worship service” along with the rest of the people present. After the service was over, I found myself thinking as I was leaving “What just happened here?”
Is my experience on this Easter – Resurrection Sunday – what God had in mind for His people on this most amazing day that we are to celebrate? That afternoon I heard the Matthew West song “Go through the motions”. That night upon arriving at home, I began to ponder the experiences of my day and the words to this song. Are we Christians, the body of Christ, satisfied with being “comfortable going through the motions” of what it means to be a follower of Christ? Is that what Christ had in mind when He issued the call to forsake everything in order to follow Him? Honestly, I think the answer these questions is a resounding NO! No wonder the world around us is not being drawn to Jesus Christ – and His bride.
Comfort – God help us never to strive for comfort in our lives! Motions – God help us not see the journey of the Christian life as mere motions. “The comfort of the motions!” A scary thought to me – scary because it seems to be reality so many times. God, help me to be satisfied only with the uncomfort that comes with the amazing journey of being a true follower of Christ!