The warmer spring weather has brought droves of people out onto the
path around the lake. During the cold, you would generally see three kinds of
people, students hurrying to and from school, people walking their dogs and
die hard runners. There are the "regulars" I see frequently and the seasonal
crowd. When it was -40 I wouldn't see too many young couples out for a nice
romantic stroll; even the number of runners would drop off to almost none.
The only people who were out consistently were the students who had to go to
school and the dog owners whose pets had needs to be attended to.
I don't know what it's like in other countries, but we see a similar
sort of thing happen in church attendance, only it happens in reverse. Come
summer, the churches in Canada seem to be virtually empty. The "regulars"
come steadily from September through April. By May the numbers are dropping
rapidly until the months of June and July where only the hard core regulars
show up most weeks.
During the summer we are also blessed with visitors from out of town
who would be considered hard core regulars at their own congregation, but
attend elsewhere while away. I have been to many churches over the summer and
they all have the same problem, so I'm certain that people by and large
aren't out visiting other churches.
It's as if Christ is Lord, when the weather isn't nice (or too cold) or
when we are in need of help for some emergency. We take the summers off and
forget about God for a while. I wonder what would happen if God decided to do
the same.
"I’m sorry, God will be away for July and August. Please leave a
message on the prayer recorder and He'll get back to you come fall."
"We're sorry but God has taken the weekend off to go to the cabin.
Could you call back Monday?"
"The number you have reached is not in service. Please try again in a
couple of months."
"God's off fishing. If it isn't too late, He'll tend to your financial
needs and healing then."
"Answer prayer? On a day like this? You must be joking! God's gone
golfing, He got an early tee off time at a great course."
Let's face it, the church community as a whole (myself included at
times) is pretty fickle. We want enough God to get us through a crisis and
enough God to get into heaven, but no more.
The pews are full of people who don't understand that the relationship
with God is the key part, it's the part designed for the here and now. There
is so much more than forgiveness for the past and a gate pass for the future.
He wants to spend time with us every day.
Thank God that He is more faithful than we are. If we had to rely on a
God who is only as faithful as His people, we'd be in a real mess; we'd have
no real hope, no assurance whatsoever.
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he
is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations
of those who love him and keep his commands. Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all
his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is
he.
