A Little About Sunday

Sundays can be long days. Yesterday was no exception. Long, however, does not equal bad. It just means long. Regularly I find myself amazed at what "church" means to various people. Though the Bible is quite clear that church is not a building or a program or a thing, rather a group of people who follow Jesus, church continues to be a building or a program or a thing to so many people. Our small group is starting through the book of I Peter. In my journey as a pastor's wife, as I have prayed to see the church as God sees the church, I Peter has stood out. Peter talks about fellow believers as family. His terms for how we are to treat one another are familial terms.

For followers of Christ, church is family.
Annoying? Sure.
Judgmental? You bet.
Human? Ummm, yup.
Amazing? Mmmm-hmmmm.
Family? Definitely.

I'm pretty sure the reason that most people don't see this is because they just aren't with the other believers enough. Rushing in as the weekly "program" starts and then leaving a few minutes after isn't enough. God has shown me that though he has required much of me as far as investing in people's lives, loving, shepherding, teaching, and serving....church is family. The 62-minute stopover every other Sunday will never, ever, ever, ever result in a living knowledge of church as family.

So yesterday was long partly because some really precious family members gather at a funny little building on Sunday and I wanted to be with them.

Part of my family spends a couple of hours in a side room with a hilarious group of Cubbies every Sunday afternoon. Granted, there is a higher-than-acceptable level of snot, vomit, unwashed hands, and nose-picking, but these kids are fabulous. So are the people in my family that hang out with them. I got to teach them last night. We read the story from Mark 12 about Jesus telling the teacher of the law what the greatest commandment is. Here's a sample of the discussion:

Me: So we heard a big word tonight in our Bible story. It was "commandment". Does anyone know what that means? [silence]

Me: Well, let me give you an example of me giving a commandment to someone. [turning to one of our two Calebs and smiling] Caleb, please get up and walk over to the door. [Caleb smiles back, understanding I didn't really need him to do that.] That would be a commandment.

[At this point, the other Caleb in the class slowly walked toward the door looking hurt and confused as if I had just kicked him out of class. Several moments of damage control by all leaders ensued.]

Me: A commandment is a rule, it's something we are supposed to do or not do. The Bible is full of commandments. One commandment is that we are not supposed to lie. Another is that we're supposed to obey our parents. Can you think of some other rules or commandments in the Bible?

Child #1: I have two Bibles--a big one and small one.

Me: Great!

Child #2: I have three Bibles.

Me: I'm glad to hear that.

Child #3: [sadly] I don't have a Bible, but my mom and dad do.

Me: I'm glad so many of you have Bibles. Can anyone think of a commandment from the Bible? [selecting a child with hand raised]

Child #4: I saw Angry Birds live on TV.

Me: Fun! Does anyone know a commandment from the Bible? [calling on another child with hand raised] Are you going to tell me about a commandment?

Child #5: Yes! [great enthusiasm] I can whistle.

I don't have any idea if the Cubbies ever actually figured out what a commandment is. I did learn many of their families own Bibles, at least one saw Angry Birds on TV, one can whistle, and I did manage to perhaps permanently scar one child by ordering him out of the room for sitting quietly and listening.

Just another Sunday with the fam.