Sunday Morning Coming Down

February 20th, 2016

Ah, Sunday mornings.  Sometimes it takes a solid mental pep-talk to get out of my warm bed. My kids are miraculously still sleeping even though every other day of the week they are up an hour earlier...or more.  I give myself a "mom" talk. You know, the one about doing whats right, being responsible, people depending on me, I'll feel better after a good God-infusion, kind of thing.  I get up, pour some coffee and get going.
And wouldn't you know it, it pays off, that sermon TOTALLY spoke to me!  I am so glad I got up and went to church! I feel uplifted, convicted, etc, because God meant that sermon to apply to me, to my life, to my family. 

It's funny how often Sunday morning comes around and that lesson taught at church seems to be speaking right to me, like it's written for me. My life, my struggles.  It tells me God is in it.  It tells me that He understands each of our struggles, our lives today.  His doctrine, when taught in truth and righteousness, is not dated; His message no longer applicable.
And what's more, I hear other people say the same thing: that message spoke to me!!  They too feel that it was personalized to their lives and their needs.  That's a remarkable thing right there.

You know the most profound thing I get out of all that?

I am not alone.  

I am not alone in my sins, my troubles, my fears, my insecurities, my struggles, my pride, my pain, my feelings of loneliness and isolation. 

When I'm tempted to think "I'm the only one".  

I am not the only one who struggles to make friends, the only one who feels like a failure, the only one who seems to always be missing those important school deadlines for my kids.  My family is not "the only one" to have issues, to be broken, to let each other down.  

Church isn't meant just to be a place we go to get a pep-talk, though it can be.  It isn't meant to be where we go to get lectured, though it can be; Conviction is critical for growth and change.  Church is where we go to be a part of the body of Christ!  The living, breathing, body of Christ.  It's people: all broken, all lacking, all needing, all flawed, all sinners, coming together to learn God's word, in all it's entirety and truth, to be convicted, changed, encouraged and helped.

Jesus didn't tell us the tale of the lost sheep for the heck of it.  We need the flock.  Alone we spiral, we sink in our sins, in our despair, in our loneliness, our self-centeredness.  Our isolation turns our empathy off, our thoughts turning inward and destructively so.  The flock keeps us focused, centered on God, reminding us to look to Him and to stop focusing inward on negative energy and thoughts, and what we don't have, what we aren't; reminds us to die to self.  To serve.  

We are not alone.

We are more.

Our family of believers are there along side us, facing the same struggles, just as afraid to let anyone see them, just as afraid to ask for help.  God meant for church to be our flock; OUR SAFETY.  Where we learn, grow, change, find protection, accountability, guidance.  

Where we find support.

Church isn't a magical place, or a place to dump our sins and get on with our lives without change, nor is it a check-off on our Christian to-do list.  The church is people helping people to stay focused where we should: on Christ. 

We are not alone, it's just that sometimes we forget that and sit right next to one another believing, each, that we are the only ones.  

God knew what he was doing with this Church thing.

(P.S. if your church isn't encouraging this atmosphere, if the leaders aren't teaching the bible, convicting, and encouraging service to one another, then find another church.  God isn't the head of that one.)