This Weekend, Be There. Be All There.
While the rest of the world limps along with one Super Bowl per year, church people get two. And one of them is coming up this weekend.
I’m referring, of course, to the weekend before Christmas: one half of the church Super Bowl duo that bookends Easter. Love it or hate it, whether you’re fond of the twice-per-year-churchgoing traditions or not, the chances are good that we’ll have more unchurched people walk through our doors this weekend than 50 other weeks out of the year.
Maybe you’re not prepared. Maybe you forgot that Christmas is coming on December 25th this year, and you’re scrambling for volunteers, for lobby decorations, for a special soloist to pull off some last minute programming changes.
Maybe you’re over-prepared. You and your teams have been all systems go since the fall, you’ve beefed up your rosters, you have fine-tuned every moment of the service, and you’ve planned a Christmas celebration that your guests will never forget.
But before we get to Sunday, let me offer a simple reminder. (And if I’m being brutally honest, this is more a reminder for me than it is for you.)
This weekend, be there. Be all there.
In the middle of a whirlwind weekend, don’t miss the opportunity to give a personal touch to your guests. If you’re not fully prepared, it’s not the end of the world. You can still celebrate the Messiah even if all of your details don’t fall into place.
If you’re over-prepared, don’t miss your guests because you’re executing the perfect plan. Slow down. Be present. Your masterpiece service won’t mean a thing if a guest doesn’t feel loved.
It’s all too easy to celebrate Christmas and miss Christ. It’s easy to observe the incarnation and skip over Emmanuel. It’s easy to plan every moment with our guests in mind, and then realize they were out of mind in the moment.
This weekend, be there. Be all there.
