Come Expecting Something

from morguefile

So last Sunday we hit a wall at church - one we've hit before, but we keep forgetting about it... The parking lot was full.  The sanctuary wasn't full, so it would be easy to not ever think about the parking lot, but somebody mentioned it and I had a facepalm moment...  We've talked about it before, why do we keep back-burner-ing this?

Because things are going okay...  But have we missed anybody because they pull up, see no spaces, and drove away?  Church growth people say if the pews are more than 80% full (which ours aren't) then that's where you stop growing...but what about parking spaces?  What if you're at 105% full?  I mean, not every Sunday, or we'd think about it all the time.  But we can't only think about it when it happens, right?

So this made me remember working at another church where we had some parking issues - again, not all the time, but just on occasion.  So, during a staff meeting we were encouraged to park across the street in a business's parking lot (they weren't open on the weekends).  I think it was Christmas.  So I parked across the street Christmas eve and trudged through the snow, waited for the light to change, crossed the street, crossed the parking lot (which did indeed fill to capacity), go into the church.

So then every Sunday thereafter I continued to park across the street - rain, snow, heat, whatever - wait for the light, cross the street, cross the parking lot, go into the church.  After a couple weeks other staff said, "Bill, you don't have to keep parking over there.  What are you doing?  We're not that full every Sunday."  At first, I was just like, "In for a penny, in for a pound..." You know?  But, then, I realized - wait a minute.  What do you mean we're not that full every Sunday?  Why not?

You know why not?  Because we don't expect to be.

We come expecting to have plenty of parking.

So we do.

And I resolved to come expecting to not have enough parking - every Sunday.  Yeah, I'm the only one, I don't care.  Come expecting something...*

So I've talked recently about being an attractional church - you know, putting your best foot forward for when visitors come - I think that's a good thing.  And I think that extends to parking lots too.  Not too many years ago our parking lot was gravel and it could get pretty messy in the rainy weather.  Not a big deal?  No, in the grand scheme of the kingdom, not a big deal.  Tough when you're wearing spike heels?  Probably (though I'll have to take your word for it).

So this isn't really about parking after all.  It's about attitude.  We (that is the leaders here at church - at ANY church) we come week in and week out expecting what?  The same thing as happened last week?  Or something more, different, powerful?  Do we really expect God to show up?  In a powerful way?  Do we park like it?  Do we show up early like it?

What's going to happen this Sunday at your church?







*So the other philosophical problem I had at the time with the whole parking problem thing was somebody asked, "Do we have permission to park in the business's lot?" And the response was, "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission."  Really?  Isn't that the polar opposite of what we're supposed to be all about?  Sigh...