This past Sunday our church – The Gathering – celebrated quite a bit. It was the end of our second year since we launched the church in September of 2011, the first official Sunday in our brand new space and the opening day for the 2013 NFL season (I don’t need much of a reason to turn ANY event into a FOOTBALL event). A couple of months ago I started praying that we’d see 300 people come on to the Kickoff event, and between the worship service (we had right at 200) and the people that popped by later to enjoy the inflatables, food and football, we probably saw around 250 people. Not quite 300, but I’m not complaining. It was a great day – quite possibly the best day – for our church since we began. The air was electric, and before and after the service there was that great sound of people talking in excited tones that makes the room feel like it’s alive.
But that wasn’t the best part of the best day. The best part came much later, after the majority of the people had called it a day and gone home and just about 40-50 were staying till the bitter end of another Panther late-game collapse. As I sat and talked with a number of people who had been with us, one of them said something that really made me smile, and for me – and all of you that are planted as members at The Gathering – this comment is what will always make me think of September 8, 2013 and say, “We won!”
One of the guests that had been with us for the whole celebration was talking about how much she enjoyed the service and how much she’d gotten out of the worship and the teaching, and so she asked one of our elders (and I’m paraphrasing here, but it’s pretty close to this), “So, what’s you church like on regular Sundays?”
The elder looked at her and said, “Pretty much like today.”
And that, church, is the win. We didn’t put a fake foot forward, or try to blow up the building with a big show, or pretend to be anything other than who we are. That lady could come back this Sunday (and I hope she does!) and, minus some hot dogs and a bounce house, she’d find that the air is just as filled with the excited anticipation of followers of Jesus waiting for HIM to show up big. She’d find that we sing just as loudly and passionately on “regular” Sundays as we do on the “big” ones. She would see that we devour the truth of Scripture just as much, laugh just as hard, and hug each other just as tightly each week as we did last week.
Shows are fun, and I’d never deny it. But at some point shows are over. The great thing about the awesome presence of God is that it doesn’t. In fact, the promise of scripture is that his presence just gets stronger and stronger and stronger.
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
What that means for The Gathering is simple: the best is yet to come. The plans that are being paid out for our third year will prepare us for EVER-INCREASING GLORY, and that means that this time next year, we’ll have even more victories to celebrate on another day that will be the best day in our church.
And the best part of that best day will still be what was the best part of this best day: who we are on one day is who we are on all the others.
And that makes me – and Jesus – smile.
