Last Tuesday I was standing by the door of the church at a few minutes before 9:00 am. I was greeting the children as they came for another day of Vacation Bible School. One young girl could hardly contain her enthusiasm. As she rushed past me, her mother said, “She wanted to go at 7:00, so I guess that means they’re having fun, right?”
A fellow adult saw the child come in and overheard her mother’s comments. He turned to me and mused, “Oh, that we should all be so excited to go to church.”
I wonder why she was so excited? Was it that she had old friends see or new friends to be with at VBS? I have those at Resurrection. Was it the snacks that were served? They had pretzels and gummy bears that day. I think donut holes and coffee are even better. Maybe it was the music. VBS always has great songs to praise the Lord. But our music on Sundays is second to none. Then it must be the interesting ways the bible stories were presented that made her so enthused. I hope you find my messages to be interesting and biblical. So why was she excited in a way that puts us adults to shame?
It must be that she was hearing and experiencing things for the first time. Do you remember when you first heard some of the great bible stories or first sang an awesome worship songs? How about when Jesus first became real to you or when you first discovered the power of prayer? After a while we can lose our youthful enthusiasm and begin to take God for granted. We forget how amazing it is to gather as a church in the presence of the Lord.
Perhaps the ancient Israelites had the same problem. So they collected together 15 Psalms to sing on their way up to the temple in Jerusalem. Psalms 120-134 are called the “songs of ascent.” They reminded the Lord’s people of the awesome blessing we have to be with God.
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” – Psalm 122:1 (a song of ascent)
Thanks to all whole shared their love of the Lord by helping out VBS this year. Rest up and have a blessed week.
Pastor Mark