Lynn Jones: Getting ready for Sunday
By Lynn Jones
A man saw a longtime friend who served as pastor of a church and asked him, “What are you doing this week?” His friend responded, “I’m doing what all preachers do. I’m getting ready for Sunday.”
That is what preachers do. If they are to have anything of value to say on Sunday, they need to get ready. I would suggest that they are not the only ones who need to do so. Everyone who comes to worship God on Sunday needs to get ready for the day.
Before any athletic contest, you see the athletes “warming up.” Athletes exercise enough to get their muscles loose, and also practice some of the skills that they will need in the game. Athletes do not want to enter a game “cold.” They want to “warm up” to get ready.
In a similar way, Christians need to get ready for the worship experience on Sunday. Prayer, Bible reading, and cultivating a sense of expectancy, all can be helpful in getting ready for the experience. If we come into worship “cold,” the worship service may be over before we are in a frame of soul to worship God.
Worship is essential. Luci Shaw said we are like frogs. Frogs are amphibians who are creatures of two different worlds. They are designed to breathe air but also to swim in water. They cannot exist for long in either element. To survive, they continually must move back and forth between the upper level (the air) and the lower level (the water). If they stay too long in the air, they will dehydrate, wither, and die. If they stay submerged too long in the water, their lungs will be deprived of oxygen, and they will drown. They are designed for two worlds, and they neglect either with disastrous results.
That’s who we are. We are the amphibians. We have been designed to live in two worlds—this physical world and the world of the Spirit. If we stay too long in either world we cannot thrive. If we stay too long in the material world with no time in the presence of God, our spirit withers and begins to die. If we stay too long in the world of the Spirit, with no contact with the physical world, we become of little value to the Kingdom, which desperately needs us to be witnesses in our world.
This week as you move through your world, be a witness to the grace and love of God. But do not stay too long in the world of physical things. Submerge yourself in the presence of God for periods during the day. Then, this Sunday submerge yourself in the presence of God and His people in worship. Continue to cultivate the rhythm of regularly moving between those two worlds. Today would be a good day to get ready for Sunday.
Lynn Jones is a retired pastor who lives in Oxford. He does supply preaching for churches in his area and often serves as an interim pastor. Jones is also an author, has written two books and writes a weekly newspaper column. He may be contacted at: kljones45@yahoo.com.
