I’ve been visiting in Abilene and had the opportunity to attend with the Southern Hills congregation last Sunday morning. Around the time the young ones were going to their classes, a little boy who looked to be about 8 or 9 years old came wandering up our aisle. We were all singing, but he was obviously looking for something.
After about ten seconds, he gave up his search and started screaming, “DAAAAAAAAD!!” at the top of his lungs. It was pretty funny to see, especially since everyone in the pews (myself included) just looked on and continued to sing. This little guy just kept screaming, and… we just kept singing. I mean, neither I nor any of the people I was with knew who this boy was or where his Dad might have been. Eventually, a young lady who seemed to know his parents came and helped guide him along.
I was thinking about how often this happens in our congregations. We are really good at getting into patterns. We know the drill. There’s always a sermon, always the Lord’s supper, always singing, always praying, and always giving, and as long as all those things happen, we stay happy.
If that ever gets interrupted though, it is no good for the person through whom that interruption comes. It would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their ne–
Well, maybe it’s not quite that bad. At least we feel it would be better if they left well enough alone.
Sometimes people get lost, though. Even amid a well-oiled congregation’s ministries, people get out of place. They are looking for their Father. Sometimes they get to needing Him so bad that they step out of line. They get out in the aisle. They look up and down. They might even scream if their search goes on long enough. You can bet they won’t be singing, or giving, or listening to a sermon, or anything like that if they’ve lost sight of their Father. Sometimes that screaming comes in the form of asking for attention. Sometimes it comes in the form of sinning. Sometimes it comes in actual screams.
How should we react to that? Should we just keep on singing? Should we tolerate the interruption in a bemused or perhaps irritated fashion? Maybe we should consider a different approach.
If there is any place in the world where a person should be able to scream out loud for the Father, it should be in our congregations. That’s the place it should be because that’s the place where there should be the most people willing to help.
That’s not how it always works out.
Sometimes we’re pretty content to keep on singing, or to keep on doing whatever it is we were doing before the interruption came. That’s a bad plan. Jesus said that He came to help the sick, and when we lose sight of the Father, we are sick, indeed. The worst thing about it is that, for some people, the kind young woman guiding the way never comes along. Sometimes people are left to scream and cry and seek, and none of us lifts a finger to help. When that happens, they keep wandering down the aisle until they come to the foyer. Then they wander out into the parking lot. If no one stops them, sometimes they never wander back at all.
So, next time there is someone wandering the aisle, screaming for the Father, and interrupting our perfectly good worship service, let’s try and remember why we came in the first place. Perhaps God is more concerned about the welfare of the one child who is desperately seeking Him out in the aisle than with hearing the end of “Just as I am” from the ninety nine who are still in the pews.
Tags: spirituality