An invitation to worship...
ALWAYS GLAD YOU CAME
So, if you were in the service last Sunday, or listened to the message on-line, you heard as me reciting and singing, with Luke Olney playing, the theme song to the 1980’s sitcom Cheers. The lyrics are (as many of us know!),
Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you've got
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot
Wouldn't you like to get away?
Sometimes you wanna go
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
You wanna be where you can see (ah-ah)
Our troubles are all the same (ah-ah)
You wanna be where everybody knows your name
And some of you were singing it as you read them.
As College Church knows, I am just a bit aggravated that the theme song for a show about a bar has such a good message. As I said last Sunday, I believe those lyrics would be more appropriate for the church, because they speak to every persons’ need to not be alone. They speak to every persons’ need to be in community. (Even God is in community; God has never been alone!)
Truthfully, it is church where we are reminded we really don’t need to worry. Church is where, if not everybody, many know our name. Church is where others are always glad we came (and sad when we don’t). In short, church is where we are supposed to find the life-giving and life-changing community we were designed for.
It turns out that being in community with other Christians is as important to our life in Christ as is reading the Bible and prayer, if what the early church committed themselves to is any indication. The Apostle Luke tells us (Acts 2:42) that the first Christians devoted themselves to four things, in this order, “the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” So prayer, Bible, the Lord’s Supper, and fellowship with other Christians are the non-negotiable practices of the Christian faith.
Thus, Sunday at College Church. We read the Bible. We pray. We receive the sacrament. And we do it all in fellowship with one another, in the particular community that calls itself College Church.
And we are always glad you came.
See you Sunday!
Pastor Mark
Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you've got
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot
Wouldn't you like to get away?
Sometimes you wanna go
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
You wanna be where you can see (ah-ah)
Our troubles are all the same (ah-ah)
You wanna be where everybody knows your name
And some of you were singing it as you read them.
As College Church knows, I am just a bit aggravated that the theme song for a show about a bar has such a good message. As I said last Sunday, I believe those lyrics would be more appropriate for the church, because they speak to every persons’ need to not be alone. They speak to every persons’ need to be in community. (Even God is in community; God has never been alone!)
Truthfully, it is church where we are reminded we really don’t need to worry. Church is where, if not everybody, many know our name. Church is where others are always glad we came (and sad when we don’t). In short, church is where we are supposed to find the life-giving and life-changing community we were designed for.
It turns out that being in community with other Christians is as important to our life in Christ as is reading the Bible and prayer, if what the early church committed themselves to is any indication. The Apostle Luke tells us (Acts 2:42) that the first Christians devoted themselves to four things, in this order, “the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” So prayer, Bible, the Lord’s Supper, and fellowship with other Christians are the non-negotiable practices of the Christian faith.
Thus, Sunday at College Church. We read the Bible. We pray. We receive the sacrament. And we do it all in fellowship with one another, in the particular community that calls itself College Church.
And we are always glad you came.
See you Sunday!
Pastor Mark