i am an offering

I was a bit nervous about this past Sunday, since it was the first Sunday in quite a while without a drummer.  However, I actually found it as a very pleasant respite from a very predominant problem we’ve been facing.  Here’s why it was a respite:

We could actually hear the mix!

This is by all means not a comment against any drummers that play with us, but a comment against the room’s acoustics.  It is so hard in our multi-purpose sanctuary to get a clean mix when a drummer is playing, because the sound gets so muddy.  It was really nice to have a bit of a breather!

With that said, here was the song list:

Rise Up and Praise Him - Baloche
Faithful One - Doerkson
God Bless Our Native Land
Enough - Tomlin
I’m Forever Grateful - Marks
Receive the Glory - Kauflin

Now, onto the real subject of the day!  So often, we as Christians, we as humans, get comfortable.  We get comfortable with routine.  We get comfortable with things going the way we expect them to go.  This can lead to two things happening: 1) When something changes from the routine, we pay more attention and are much more alert. 2) When something changes from the routine, we either get frustrated because we didn’t expect it, or we just plain don’t pay attention.

Unfortunately for me, being honest, when we had a guest pastor yesterday, I fell into #2.  I was used to Pastor John being here and I spaced out, therefore hindering my job as a worship leader.  However, this can hinder many things for anybody.

If you hit the #2 category, ask youself why?  Is it because you have been placing your whole basis on coming to church or listening to a sermon on Pastor John?  This is scary.  We should be listening to God’s Word being preached because it’s God Word being preached, no matter who is the messenger, unless of course, the messenger is speaking against God’s Word.  Then we pray that God would help us to know to challenge the messenger, or to get out of there as fast as possible.

If you hit the #2 category, was it because you were bored or distracted?  This is also scary.  We need to all pray that God would give us a desire to be connected with Him and not bored with the elements of the worship service.

I truly hope that most people fell into the crowd of being more alert with a guest pastor, and I ask that God would help me and any others not to fall into the #2 crowd.