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<\/a>Doing some stretches. Carbo-loading (translation: stress eating lots of chocolate and white bread). Having some extra coffee. Trying to ignore the beginnings of canker sores that will be nasty and painful in a few days\u2019 time.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s Holy Week, y\u2019all.<\/p>\n
It occurred to me, in looking at my calendar for the week, I don\u2019t have any more time-consuming obligations this week than i normally would. In fact, i have fewer places to be\/things to do, because we cancel some of our regular doings at church. So why does it feel like a marathon, every single year in the home stretch to Easter?<\/p>\n
In the interest of self-awareness and self-care, I have been especially mindful of the feeling this year, and i figured it out: it doesn\u2019t feel like a marathon. It feels like a job interview.<\/p>\n
But i already HAVE a job.<\/p>\n
However, a large percentage of our guests to Easter worship do NOT, in fact, already have a pastor. Or a church. And so, there it is. We are auditioning to be everyone\u2019s church for not just the day, but for their lives. That feels uncomfortable, and it feels like alot riding on one hour of our lives.<\/p>\n
Everybody always says it is a \u201cgood problem to have,\u201d to run out of seats, or parking, or communion, or to not have enough space for all the children in Worship and Wonder. Well, yes and no. It\u2019s a good problem to have every week, because then you build. You transform. These are not, however, good problems to have once or twice a year. Because that once or twice a year is somebody\u2019s\u2013in our case, a lot of somebody\u2019s\u2013first and possibly only visit to church in a very, very long time. You want them to feel fed, loved, served, welcomed\u2026and not have to climb over 18 people to get a seat.<\/p>\n
Every year, I struggle with whether to add another service\u2026it would solve all of these problems, really, if we could just \u201cdivide and conquer.\u201d In fact, for Christmas Eve this year, we did just that. And for all the fears of \u2018splitting our crowd,\u2019 we wound up with, yes, 2 smaller services than we usually have, but a much larger total than we\u2019d have at just one service.<\/p>\n
But for Easter, we\u2019re not quite there yet. For all the stress and discomfort, there is something so holy about being all crammed in there, \u2018together in one place\u2026\u2019 It also creates a sacred calling, to put the comfort and spirit-growth of our guests before our own. We try to move into the space with some hyper-awareness of who looks lost, who is sitting alone, who comes in late, who needs the nursery, who needs space for a wheel chair\u2026 There is truly a spiritual exercise in maneuvering all these people into a tiny space that i think might be utterly lost if we had \u2018plenty of room for everyone.\u2019<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve finally come \u2019round to owning that discomfort though, and not letting it own me. Nor do i let it be the elephant in the already-crowded room. \u201cUncomfortable? Feeling crowded?\u201d we might say\u2026. \u201cWell, there is always room at our table (hospitality moment). Also, if you come back next Sunday\u2026and the next and the\u00a0 next\u2026then by this time next year, we will have a bigger church!\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, we will gather in a newly-renovated sanctuary that actually does grant us a little more room at the table. The new set-up is meant to provide us some flex-space\u2013and flex-time\u2013until we do need extra services, or a larger space. It is something of an empty and waiting place, as this whole season is meant to be, that says we are still becoming, and we are leaving room for whatever\u2013and WHOMever\u2013comes next. Lord willing and the concrete dries, we will be there with the doors open come Sunday.<\/p>\n
So, as we prepare to scoot over and be a little uncomfortable this Sunday, I take a deep breath, and remind us all\u2013my folks, your folks, and folks who might be coming to taste and see good news for the first time\u2013that we are at worship. There will be joy, there will be laughter and music, there will be some holy chaos\u2013but nobody, and especially not Jesus, ever promised that we\u2019d be comfortable.<\/p>\n
The Holy Spirit sent me a litany for this week. I\u2019ve been humming it to myself for days now, and it is keeping the canker sores at bay. Not to mention, spinning itself into a sermon. It goes something like this:<\/p>\n
-If the parking lot is full, we will walk. <\/em><\/p>\n-If the seats are taken, we will stand. <\/em><\/p>\n-If we run out of wafers, there will be loaves and fishes.<\/em><\/p>\n-If we forget the words, we will dance.<\/em><\/p>\n-If there are too many children, we will thank God, and we will tell more stories.<\/p>\n
-If the mics go out, we will make acoustic joyful noises.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n-If the concrete doesn\u2019t dry, we will make footprints and call it a dedication party. <\/em><\/p>\nCome Sunday, we hope not for comfort and peace, but for a daggone miracle. If Jesus shows up, the good news tells itself. We have only to give the welcome.<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Doing some stretches. Carbo-loading (translation: stress eating lots of chocolate and white bread). Having some extra coffee. Trying to ignore the beginnings of canker sores that will be nasty and painful in a few days\u2019 time. It\u2019s Holy Week, y\u2019all. It occurred to me, in looking at my calendar for the week, I don\u2019t have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":2385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,118],"tags":[59,100,14,9],"class_list":["post-1058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith-and-community","category-lent-and-easter","tag-church","tag-easter","tag-phoenix","tag-progressive-christianity"],"yoast_head":"\n
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