I can see the big four-oh peeking at me from around the corner, giggling, smirking, ready to tease me. Little does it know that I am happier now than I have ever been in my life. Great family, check. Great church and ministry, check. Great friends, check. Coolest bike in Texas, check.
But I can tell I am getting set in my ways. For instance, Saturdays and Sundays have developed these beautiful morning rituals over the past few months.
Saturday morning: Wake up, coffee, followed by some more coffee. Talk to Jen for a bit while the early sunlight creeps its way through the blinds of our bedroom. The drone of traffic is noticeably absent that particular day of the week. The only sound is the TV downstairs, followed by the pre-teen "Hey" as Jen and I enter the room. (Evidently "Hey" in their strangely coded edge-of-pubescence language can be translated, "Good morning, mom and dad, we love you and are happy to see you on this fine day.")
After an exchanged look between Jen and I that includes a slight roll of the eyes, I refill my coffee cup and head out to the garage. First things first: Hit the "POWER" button on the little stereo against the wall and play Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Soul to Soul" or "Texas Flood," or occasionally Jeff Healey's "Cover-to-Cover." Once that step is set in motion, get the cleaning supplies, and spend the next hour polishing the Hog. That's it. Saturday morning. And in my own private paradise, as the routine continues to solidify, it's all good.
To give you a peek into that world, Harley riders have a saying: "If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand." Sure, there is a hint of in-your-face-rebellious-arrogant bravado behind the statement. But if you look past that thin veneer, you see a truth: Some things are beyond explanation. You get it, or you don't. I did not "get" the royal wedding. Not the one this year. Not the one when I was a kid. Sorry. The only part I watched last week was the preacher reciting the liturgy. My son asked me why I was watching that part. I told him it was like a mechanic watching a car-building show. I wanted to see the technical side of it. But that was it. The rest of it was painfully uninteresting.
Likewise, how a garage filled with the smell of chrome polish equals a paradise is one of those things you get, or you don't. No need trying to explain that one either.
And church? Kind of the same, which brings us to the beautiful routine of recent Sunday mornings.
Each Sunday usually begins with a 6:00 alarm. Slip on some shorts, t-shirt, running shoes, get in the car, and drive to Memorial Park. Three miles of walking with sermon notes in hand. Drive home. Shower. Shave. Coffee. Pray. Round up the fam. Drive to church.
Church. Two or so hours of community, fellowship, and experiencing God. Or that's what I want to see. That's how I think it should be. Experiencing God. Unfortunately, it does not always turn out as such. Sometimes it is community, fellowship, and explaining God. See the difference? What is it? What's the difference between experiencing God and explaining God? Good question. Very good question. You're a right smart one to ask, O bloggerland friend.
I have tried to explain the importance of church to people for years. But one good thing about approaching the big four-oh is that it has given me time to see that there is less value in explaining God to people, and more value in communing with others in the name of God. Set up opportunities for others to experience the grace of God, the forgiveness of God, whether during a worship service, or perhaps more likely, over dinner, at the hospital, or dare we say even at non-upper-class-white-people-hangouts.
Just between you and me, I currently have a Saturday friend who I want to be a Sunday friend as well. But I have a feeling that experiencing life together is going to join those two worlds more than my feeble attempts to explain church to him.
Some people call me an "evangelist" because I have led a number of people to Christ. (I am smart enough, by the way, not to be stupid enough to think it was me alone who did the leading.)
"Evangelist." Did you know that word literally means, "One who performs good news." Seems to me, to deliver good news is to do more than explain. To deliver good news is to speak of something that one is about to experience.
Søren Kierkegaard said that one of the ways we avoid God is by talking about God. So if you come to church on Sunday morning and hear people explain grace without allowing yourself to experience actual redeeming forgiveness of sins through Jesus, then we once again might find ourselves doing church things that leave us just shy of sharing with one another as a living body of Christ.
I would like to talk to you about redemption. Seriously. I would. But the reason I want to talk to you about redemption is so that we can experience it together, not so that you will have a deeper understanding.
I am starting to see that my Saturday and Sunday mornings are not that far apart. If I spend my time polishing the Harley to show-quality luster without riding it... well... that would be like going to church and talking about God without actually experiencing the redemptive grace of God afforded to all of us.
That's strong. Let's just let that one soak in for a bit.
