Show Up Anyway

I didn't want to go to church this past Sunday.

I realize that's a particular complication of my job; for most people, church is always a choice. For me, most Sundays, choice has gone out the window.

It doesn't change the fact that I didn't want to go.

Too little sleep had a lot to do with it. There's a good story as to why I got far too little sleep, but that's for another day. I'm not going to lie, preaching week in and week out takes its toll as well. Mostly, though, it was a flat-out, grumpy mood that came with plenty of internal whining, "I don't want to go to church today."

I did.

And here's what happened:

It was the first Sunday our youngest deacon, newly added to the roster this past fall, served. He took everything quite seriously. His mom's instructions helped him along. His hands were just large enough to hold the plate with bread out to people.

His work was made even more beautiful by the man who helped him. He has two young adult sons of his own, so I had no doubt he would know how to serve alongside the ten year old. He did so with beautiful grace and guidance. It was that beautiful reality of an adult who can let a child be a child, but gently coax him along to maturity.

A Iranian Sufi monk with whom I'd exchanged a few phone calls and emails called me on Saturday evening, to ask if he could come to worship. I said yes, so the self-described fat, Middle Eastern man with a beard showed up, and I gave him a few minutes to talk about Islamic nonviolence with my congregation.

I watched later as he asked to hug a woman when she told him he's the first Muslim she's ever met. She agreed.

We had lunch together. He asked me to order for him. Anything was fine. "Whatever comes from the creator is beautiful," he told me. So I did. And we shared lunch.

Those moments stick out as beautiful, unexpected glimpses of the Divine.

I was so glad I showed up after all.

Maybe even more true with God things than other things: show up even if you don't want to.

You might just be wonderfully surprised at what happens.