Let you light shine

In the beginning of 2009 I discerned a challenge that was gaining ground in my heart. The challenge was simple, "get out more". I gave a simple challenge to the congregation. Find a way to do what we do at a location other than the church. I am thrilled with some of the creative responses to that challenge. A segment of our men's bible study meets at a Mexican restaurant on Wednesdays evening. Our Youth have been doing a monthly service at the Civic Center. This week we did Vacation Bible School at the outdoor amphitheater at the Civic Center. Sunday Night we will have an outdoor concert there. One of my most meaningful reflections from this week has more to do with people who didn't register for VBS than the beautiful children who attended. It is from people who were all around the VBS celebration. I am talking about people who were jogging on the walkway, visiting the playground, enjoying a picnic in the grass, wandering around the Civic Center facilities. One lady shared with our registration volunteers that she enjoyed walking around each night and hearing the great music and celebration. What an obvious, but obvious benefit to getting outside of the church "building" and living as the church in our community. Sometimes we read the words of Jesus and overspiritualized them so much that we forget how they apply to the everyday life of the church. When Jesus taught us to shine as a light, He taught us that it is ridiculous to cover our light up and hide it. Sometimes we believe we shine the brightest on Sunday mornings while we worship as a congregation. But, that doesn't make sense does it? Sunday morning worship is very important to me. It is a great time to gather for corporate worship. But, let's not kid ourselves into thinking that it is our time to shine. We need to get out from under the roof of the church to really shine. My heart is filled with gratitude for every child, teen and adult that was shining brightly this week. Great job!