Let’s face it. It would be easier to skip church on Sundays. Admit it. And yet, the reason we put in the work and effort to attend church on Sunday mornings far outweighs the challenges that we face in getting there. Ginger Hughes, writing for Nurturing Faith Publishing, describes it in a way that many of us can understand and appreciate.
'The Sunday Challenge’ by Ginger Hughes
In just a couple of hours, my house will most likely look as though something exploded.
How do I know? Because it happens almost every week.
Tiny shoes will be dumped out of the basket and onto the floor of the closet in an attempt to find matches. Clothes will be strewn in the bedroom as I try to help the kids get dressed only to realize they’ve grown two inches, and the clothes I’d laid out suddenly don’t fit any longer. The bathroom counter will be littered with hair bows and brushes as we try to tame tresses. Half-eaten cereal bowls will be left on display as we forget them in our mad dash to get ready.
And to top it all off, my ears will be ringing from all of the opinions my kiddos have slung my way: “This shirt is too itchy, Mama! These pants are too scratchy! My hair looks silly like this, Mama!!!”
Yes, Sunday mornings are hectic.
They’re chaotic.
They require “work” to get everyone ready and to church on time (or thereabouts!). And sometimes, after a long week, it’s natural to just want to stay home. It’s natural to want to forgo the challenges of getting ready to go one more place and adding one more thing to the already overbooked schedule.
But if we choose to stay home, we miss out on so many things and so do our children.
We miss out on the experience of collective worship: the act of joining our voices together with fellow believers to sing songs of praise, the bowing of heads knowing that God promises “Where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in their midst,” the listening to scripture being read and allowing it space in our hearts.
And our children miss these things as well, even if they are very young.
They miss singing “Jesus Loves Me” and learning that Jesus does indeed love them. They miss simple prayers and learning the stories that will become the foundation of their faith.
Because friends, our children know what we value by watching us.
They know what we think is important by observing where we spend our money and where we spend our time.
Do my children know that faith is important to me? I hope so.
I want my children to hear me pray. I want them to see me read scripture. I want them to see me live out Jesus’ command to love our neighbor. And I want them to see me put forth the effort to go to worship.
I want them to know that faith is the foundation of my life, so I will do the “work” to get us there.
Please join me this week. I’ll save you a seat.
Ginger Hughes is the wife of a pastor, a mother of two and an accountant. She is a Georgia native currently living in the foothills of North Carolina. Her passion for writing is fueled by the desire to offer encouragement, grace and a deeper understanding that we are all God’s children. Her blogging for Nurturing Faith is sponsored by a gift from First Baptist Church of Gainesville, Ga. Published April 29, 2018.
