The Exit Epidemic

I may be the only one to notice this.  What I see may not reflect the facts.  However, it can still get to me.  By the way, this is something I can be guilty of.

It strikes me as odd that I can attend a worship service and walk out of it like I’ve spent the morning at Wal-Mart or doing something else.  It’s as if what’s happened in the past [insert time the service you attended lasted] didn’t occur. 

My thoughts shift to what I’m doing next; be it going to lunch, reporting back to my volunteer station, catching up with people in the lobby, etc.  This might start as soon as the preacher’s closing thoughts or during the last song. 

I’m sorry.  Did we not just gather corporately to meet with God? 

World Wrestling Entertainment is coming to town in a little over a week.  Based on past experiences, I’m pretty sure I will get in to the event, take everything in and be talking about it for the rest of the night.  I’ll be discussing what I liked and didn’t like, laugh some parts of the show off, and converse about what I saw might mean for future broadcasts and pay-per-views.

All of that devotion and thought will go in to a profession that exists for the purpose of entertainment.  Where is that in my Sunday morning experiences?  Why is it that every few months there is a service where “God shows up” and I’m in awe of it?  He’s there every week, and in our lives every day.  Why doesn’t this matter more to me when we gather in His presence?

This isn’t a post about “what’s wrong with the Church in America today;” I would just like to see our time together on Sunday mornings be expressed outwardly more than it is.  These services are blessings and privileges, and I think they deserve our all after we exit our sanctuaries.