I know everyone isn't a "cleaning freak" or "neat freak" or Mr./Mrs. Clean, but for the most part, I am willing to bet that most of us would agree we hate a sticky floor. Whether your shoes or socks stick to it, or even your bare feet, most of us will usually at least give that area a quick wipe. And without getting into some of my own personal obsessive traits, which there are quite a few, let me just say that sticky floors are gross!!
So how could it be that the other night Susan Ardale and I were happy to have a sticky floor in Fellowship Hall? A floor with a few small lemonade spills, ice cream spills, cookie, brownie and other sundae topping pieces on it and even some spills that I wasn't quite sure what they were, not to mention a few tables with some ooey, gooey conglomerations. Darn kids and adults too, they made quite a mess of our typically clean Fellowship Hall. And you know what, I want to personally invite everyone of them to come back and do it again, with one caveat, they bring that same energy and life they brought with them that evening as a collective group. I have been going to GUMC for 30 years and I challenge anyone to tell me the last time we had that kind of energy in our sanctuary, in Fellowship Hall, or just in our church in general on aFriday evening, let alone most Sundays. Without getting into the cause of this, which is another entry all to itself, I will say that our church band Revive got the energy source going with their concert that evening and it carried over well into the rest of the night.
Now let me be the first to say that there is a time for respect and reverence when it comes to the house of God, but let me follow that up with this, if I have to choose between a pristine, shiny and spotless sanctuary with 75-100 people in it, or less, or one that might experience a spill or two or three, with 250 people in it, singing, clapping and praising the Lord and listening to louder than normal music, I will choose the later every time. And as for Fellowship Hall, if we have to do a little extra cleaning, SO WHAT!! If that extra cleaning means we are opening up our doors to those that may have never heard the gospel, or have walked away from it, or aren't sure about it, then guess what, isn't that exactly we are commanded to do by God. In fact, isn't that what God expects of us? If we want to be known as the church that welcomes all, loves all and serves all, then we can't pick and choose. Did Jesus? We are all God's people, young and old, rich and poor, weak and strong, clean and neat and not so clean and neat.
Is our church changing? You bet it is!! Check out this change. On a Friday evening, yes I said a Friday evening, in our sanctuary we were encouraged to pull out our cell phones, we had bottled water (what???), some people were a little too loud at times during the service, there was some clapping, there was loud music and yes, there were a few messes. But........there were also 250 people singing, praying, worshiping and eating some darn good ice cream sundaes together and the Holy Spirit was alive and reverberating throughout that building. And if all that means we have a little messier church, then buy a few more buckets, cleaners and mops and let's do it again real soon!!!
So how could it be that the other night Susan Ardale and I were happy to have a sticky floor in Fellowship Hall? A floor with a few small lemonade spills, ice cream spills, cookie, brownie and other sundae topping pieces on it and even some spills that I wasn't quite sure what they were, not to mention a few tables with some ooey, gooey conglomerations. Darn kids and adults too, they made quite a mess of our typically clean Fellowship Hall. And you know what, I want to personally invite everyone of them to come back and do it again, with one caveat, they bring that same energy and life they brought with them that evening as a collective group. I have been going to GUMC for 30 years and I challenge anyone to tell me the last time we had that kind of energy in our sanctuary, in Fellowship Hall, or just in our church in general on aFriday evening, let alone most Sundays. Without getting into the cause of this, which is another entry all to itself, I will say that our church band Revive got the energy source going with their concert that evening and it carried over well into the rest of the night.
Now let me be the first to say that there is a time for respect and reverence when it comes to the house of God, but let me follow that up with this, if I have to choose between a pristine, shiny and spotless sanctuary with 75-100 people in it, or less, or one that might experience a spill or two or three, with 250 people in it, singing, clapping and praising the Lord and listening to louder than normal music, I will choose the later every time. And as for Fellowship Hall, if we have to do a little extra cleaning, SO WHAT!! If that extra cleaning means we are opening up our doors to those that may have never heard the gospel, or have walked away from it, or aren't sure about it, then guess what, isn't that exactly we are commanded to do by God. In fact, isn't that what God expects of us? If we want to be known as the church that welcomes all, loves all and serves all, then we can't pick and choose. Did Jesus? We are all God's people, young and old, rich and poor, weak and strong, clean and neat and not so clean and neat.
Is our church changing? You bet it is!! Check out this change. On a Friday evening, yes I said a Friday evening, in our sanctuary we were encouraged to pull out our cell phones, we had bottled water (what???), some people were a little too loud at times during the service, there was some clapping, there was loud music and yes, there were a few messes. But........there were also 250 people singing, praying, worshiping and eating some darn good ice cream sundaes together and the Holy Spirit was alive and reverberating throughout that building. And if all that means we have a little messier church, then buy a few more buckets, cleaners and mops and let's do it again real soon!!!
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