Many churches in the fall have a common experience. Men begin staying home from worship gatherings to watch Sunday NFL games. One church thinks that they have discovered the answer to this dilemma. Red Oak Nazarene Church in Cleveland, Ohio bought a stack of TiVo players, placed them in the foyer of the church and offered to subsidize TiVo subscriptions to any member in good standing. Seventy-five families have availed themselves of the offer thus far.
The church now prints the Brown’s schedule in the Sunday bulletin and also offers classes on how to program a TiVo DVR.
Sound crazy? It is. This story appeared on a satirical web site called LarkNews. However, it raises a great point for reflection.
How much should a church coax, encourage, invite or entice people to gather on Sundays to worship God?
After all, we’re talking about the Creator of life, the Redeemer of our souls, and the Judge we face at life’s end. If God is who He claims to be (see the Bible) then it only makes sense that worshiping (honoring, exalting, yielding to) God would be our first priority. Forget football, boating on the lake, sleeping in late, working in the yard or drinking coffee and reading the paper. The King of kings and Lord of lords is looking for our arrival and expecting our celebration of His Presence in our midst.
On the other hand, if God is imagination, mythology, or superstition, then I would be wasting my time gathering with other people to sing songs and hear a speaker drone on about nothing.
But, which is it? That is THE question.
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