However, I also hate to fail, and I hate to say I'll do something and not follow through, and I hate for all my Facebook friends and blog readers to realize that I'm human and I'm not always that great at sticktoitiveness and no longer trust me to complete what I say I'll do. So I went to sleep Saturday night muttering about never going to church again and woke up Sunday morning determined not to fail but to take the easiest path possible and get it over with.
So I asked myself," Where are we going to go to church today?"
And I answered, "LifeChurch. No one cares if you show up there anyway." (Did I mention I was cranky?)
But to be honest, I've had a little bit of a preconceived notion about LifeChurch from the beginning. It just seems a little too entertaining and convenient and maybe not such a sacrifice to attend because it's....well, fun, and you can go pretty much anytime you want instead of just early Sunday morning when you just want to sleep, and really, if church isn't just a little bit boring and undesirable then how can I turn it into a sacrifice and show God how much I'm willing to give up for Him just by showing up. I mean really? And besides that, how is anyone ever supposed to really connect when you can come at anytime, and the preacher is on a tv screen and doesn't know who you are anyway? It just seems like an easy way to get your weekly church obligation in without messing up the rest of your schedule. And no one's going to notice one more family there anyway, so easy-peasy, we can go to church and I won't have to be civil to anyone. Perfect!
Oh, God! Aren't you the funny one?!
So we decided to attend the LifeChurch in Oklahoma City on Northwest Expressway because it was right beside Gattitown (which is like a Chuckie Cheese on steroids where we'd spent a years worth of time the day before) and we knew exactly where to find it. (Once again path of least resistance was the order of the day.) We got there as a flood of people were leaving and a new flood was pouring in, and after making my youngest daughter change clothes in the parking lot because.....well, because, I was in a bad mood and everything seemed wrong at the time, we entered the building, and BAM! The whole morning transformed in a snap!
LifeChurch is in the midst of their yearly At the Movies series where head Pastor Craig Groeschel uses popular movies as a catalyst to the biblical principles and messages he's teaching that week. During this series each July, each of the LifeChurch locations decorate their churches in a different movie theme. I knew this was happening, but I didn't KNOW. I couldn't KNOW. Oh, my goodness! Absolute awesomeness! There was just no way to maintain a cranky attitude when faced with a giant rotating spaghetti and meatball tornado. The lobby of the church was absolutely incredible!
We were greeted at the door and asked if we had attended before, and when we responded to the negative, our greeter turned into an on the spot tour guide and directed us to the children's check-in area, and the coffee and tea bar, and reminded us to pick up popcorn on our way to the sanctuary. I didn't feel like a nobody or like no one cared. I felt included and welcome and finally a little bit excited about church that morning.
We let the girls take the time to go through the spaghetti maze and down the ice cream slide before checking them in at the information station and dropping them off in a large room with a giant movie screen on one wall and a rock climbing wall on the other. We discovered that the kids get their very own version of At the Movies with children's movies and messages on their level. (They watched and discussed pieces of Maleficent, and my girls were excited to tell me all they learned on the way home.)
Jason and I and our oldest grabbed some iced tea and popcorn and headed to the sanctuary (or auditorium), and soon after the music began. As I'd expected, it was rock concert loud with flashing lights and repetitive choruses and I have to admit, I had a hard time getting into it and connecting with God through the music that morning. Perhaps it was my residual moodiness or exhaustion, but I found myself just standing and watching and wishing they would stop singing the same thing over and over so I could just sit down. I don't always feel this way about this style of worship, but this particular morning I was very disconnected from it, so I was glad when it was time for the message.
And what a message!
The movie base was About Time, a time travel movie where a 21 year old son learns from his father that the men in their family have the ability to travel back in time within their own lifetimes. I hadn't seen the movie, but I definitely want to now. Comparing scenes from the movie with Ecclesiastes 3: A Time for Every Season, the pastor wove a beautiful story with a life-altering message. A message about time. A message to remind us to make the most of the time we're given. A message to give God our time. A message that for us came just in the nick of time.
The next day my husband came home from work, looked me in the eyes, and said, "I had a really good day." I was glad to hear that and asked what had happened because for some time, things hadn't been quite so positive. He hesitated and then responded in his typical quiet way, "That sermon yesterday.....it was really good."
And that's all he needed to say.
I've been constantly amazed during our Steeple Chase journey this year how God keeps placing us in positions to hear or see or do exactly what we seem to need each Sunday. I thought I was taking my family to Lifechurch because it was the easy, non-threatening thing to do, but in reality it was just right where we needed to be to change our perspective not just on LifeChurch but on life itself.
***(This week is the final week of At the Movies, and I highly recommend taking advantage of one of the many opportunities to watch online at lifechurch.tv, I promise you won't be disappointed.)
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