Sunday Lessons
Another Sunday…
If you work or volunteer in ministry full-time, you understand the feeling of “another Sunday”. It’s amazing how regular and routine Sunday is.
Same formula: music + teaching + prayer + announcements = dismiss and start it all over again multiple times.
Sometimes I catch myself saying things like:
“One down, four more to go” or “Just one more”
As if I’m counting the minutes until it’s over. Ugh!
Do I really want it to be over? Yes, it’s a long day. Yes, I get very tired, but do I really want to just get it over with?
Because while it may just feel like another Sunday for me, it’s not another Sunday for most of the people sitting in the services:
- What about the dozens of first-time guests that were there yesterday? Why July 24th? I have no idea, but it was their first time to experience Cross Point and possibly their first time to hear the hope of the Gospel. That’s not just another Sunday for them.
- Or the daddy who eagerly wanted to introduce me to his daughter who will be moving to Nashville this fall to start her first “real” job. With tears in his eyes he was desperate to know that he had found a safe place for his daughter to worship and build community when she’s a thousand miles away from home. That’s not just another Sunday.
- The sweet girl who worshiped on the front row with such abandon that I couldn’t help but watch her because it made my heart full to see her love and worship her Creator so joyfully. It’s wasn’t just another Sunday for her.
Those are just a few of the stories from the thousands of faces who chose to attend a worship service yesterday. I have no idea what the rest of their stories are, but I’m convinced…
…it’s never just another Sunday.
Thanks Jenni for the great reminder
I met that dad!! His daughter came to Stretch last night too! 🙂 So great that she is so eager to plug in and find a home at CP. ……Excellent post, Jenni.
Yea! I’m so glad she came to Stretch. Thanks for loving and serving so well at Cross Point, Morgan. You are a huge blessing to this community!
When we were in Honduras chatting around the fire one night, someone made the comment that each service “could be someone’s first and also could be someone’s last”. Really hit me between the eyes about how important each experience because you just don’t know what God has planned.
I LOVE THIS POST!!
Thanks Jenni for being powerfully present yesterday!!
It’s always fun to tag-team a service with you Blake!
GREAT Post! But I have to add that worship through giving needs to be in that formula 🙂
Well of course 🙂
Wow. Great. Convicting. True.
Good reminder Jenni, Its actually funny because i had a dream the other night about attending a worship service that I was fully engaged in. We spend so much time figuring out how to engage others in our Sunday morning experience but I often refuse to let myself be engaged. Talking to people that walk in our doors for the first time every Sunday help remind me of what God has really called me to do every sunday.
Great reminder.
Keep it story and keep it relational and keep it focused on what God is doing in the lives of people…it will be difficult to just call it another Sunday. Thanks for the reminder to look for those God stories happening in our Sunday gathering.
So true, Richard!
Jenni,
Thank you for this powerful post. I hope many read and take your words to heart.
Being relatively new to the Cross Point family I still vividly remember the first Sunday I attended just a bit over a year ago. After the initial invitation to attend it took almost a month to get up the courage to drive across town to attend. I was terrified!! I had been away from the church and from God for over 30 years. I remember sitting in the car watching people file in the door and trying to work up the courage to go too.
And I remember the smiling welcome I received from all the nameless people who seemed genuinely excited to see me and when finding out it was my first visit the eagerness to help me get connected and the hope that I would come back again.
And I remember the grateful email I sent off to Pastor Pete for such a wonderful experience that day.
And this weekend serving in the cafe, I was amazed at the number of first time visitors I was blessed to talk with. I met the man and his daughter you spoke of. I met a woman who had just sent her children back to their father for the school year and was suffering a great feeling of loss. There were several young adults new to Nashville searching for the right place to connect with God and community.
As a volunteer I hope to make everyone feel extra special and welcomed as it could very well be the turning point in their attempt to connect with God. I know it was for me!
Thank you for being so caring. For being there every Sunday.
signed — daddy with tears in his eyes.
Jenni,
My wife & I were in Nashville yesterday as a result of being at the Jon Acuff Quitter Conference on Saturday. So as you can imagine it was not the “just another Sunday” for us. Yet it truly struck as that just like at our home church it can really become “just another Sunday” if we are not careful. The host teams were in place but our newness & asking questions on how to navigate through the buildings from the back parking area did not seem to raise the level of engagement as if we were visitors and they saw it as their mission to set an awesome first contact for the CrossPoint Sunday experience. After reading your blog, I see that I can so quickly do this myself whether at work or as I serve as a greeter at the church I attend regularly. Thanks for the reminder so I can recognize that it’s never “just another Sunday” when people’s souls are in the balance and I might be the one that stands to make a difference.