The sense of home and the local church.

 

Greetings from my couch. 

I am home sick again today. I went to staff meeting and creative lunch, but then felt the need to bail after that. I feel like someone has grabbed a hold of my sinuses and is trying to pull me around the room. Plus, I woke up at 4:30 AM for no reason, so I'm more than a little bit tired. But from my couch, and while watching some television, the idea for a blog post came up.

 

I walked in the door, set my back pack down. I ran up to our office and put on a set of PJ pants and a hoodie. I wanted to try to do a little bit of work, so I popped in a little David Crowder Band how to DVD, and worked on a couple e-mails. The whole time I was overwhelmed with this sense of cozi-ness, the sense of home that is so irreplaceable. Any other day this prevailing sense might be over-looked, misplaced, or down right ignored. But in a time when I am beat up, beat down, run down, etc, it is right in my face, and it will not be ignored. 

 

While I was watching Crowder, and feeling this sense of tremendous "At-Homeness" (it's a word), Crowder began talking about his local church in Waco TX. All of it got me thinking about the local church I attend at Westminster, and how the last few weeks have just felt so right walking through those double doors in to our gymnasium, and the same at-homeness that has washed over me. Worship needs to happen in a comfortable place, in a place where all involved can feel comfortable. This is why to me and many of my friends, worshipping in a basketball stadium just doesn't seem to make sense. 

The thing is (I started writing this post about four hours ago), I'm still sick. I feel worn out and run down and actually, even a little bit worse than I did when I got home. The sense of home didn't actually make me feel better, but it certainly helped ease my mind. 

I think this is absolutely critical for those of us who lead worship.  For me, it would be easy to be the "staff person", come in with the guitar, sing a few songs, and run away to whatever Sunday school class came next. But for us, to creat that absolute sense of home, I think we need to immerse ourselves in the community of our churches. 

Preach it Crowder:

Now for some cereal and sleep. Hopefully I'll feel good enough for Veritas tomorrow!
Godspeed,

Jason