Go to Church Somewhere Else (1 of 2)

That's right! I said it, and I meant it. But, it's not what you're thinking. This isn't some fly-off-the-handle rant. Not that I'm above that, but in this particular instance, I'm not doing it. No, instead, I mean something completely different:

This summer, if you're out of town on vacation somewhere, make it a point to go to church and worship somewhere that you've never been before.

There are some interesting and very healthy things that happen whenever Julie & I get to do this:

1. We're forced to remember what it's like for our guests to walk through our doors each week. You NEVER take that for granted whenever you put yourself in that position. (Sub-point 1-A: Whenever you think about other people and worship, you've burned up some of the bandwidth that is sometimes dedicated to thinking What's-in-it-for-me? thoughts.)
2. Our capacity for worship is stretched. When you follow the worship leader of another congregation--and therefore that church's style of worship--you choose to do something that you're not as familiar with, so you have the opportunity to remember that worship isn't about OUR comfort. It's about OUR adoration of God. Lifting him up in a style or through songs we're not used to can actually help us re-center our worship on the One it's supposed to be all about anyway.
3. It's really healthy to ask the Holy Spirit to speak a fresh word into your life through a teacher/preacher that you're not used to. Maybe even in a denominational tradition that you're not used to. Again, same principles apply here as in the worship thing in #2.
4. New experiences always hold new lessons about God and about life. Through these new worship experiences, God will build and deepen your worship repertoire--and that's great.
5. Every time we do this as a family, no matter how powerful the presence of God, or inspiring the worship, how good the band, how popping the projectors, mind-blowing the technology (or lack thereof), or how anointed the preaching--we're excited to come home to LHC and the people and vision that God has called us to be a part of.

So, this summer, on vacation...Go to church somewhere else! And, know that we look forward to seeing you back home.