I’ve been on a few airplanes the past couple of weeks. Trip to Indiana, trip to Kentucky, trip to California.
Airplanes are funny places. People are kind of weird on airplanes. Not much of anybody really *wants* to be on the airplane, they just want to arrive at their destination without too much hassle about their carry-on baggage. You can tell this by how “friendly” people are on the airplane, usually not at all.
I have also been to a few churches in the past few weeks. One of the things that I noticed is that it isn’t unusual to feel like I’m flying on an airplane. People are not as friendly as I expected, maybe even grumpy. Perhaps it’s some of the same stuff – perhaps people see the church as an “airplane” that will just get them to their desired destination. Maybe they just want to tune into their favorite speaker and music and not engage with someone new.
That is somewhat surprising to me because I feel like we’ve avoided this to some extent at University Lutheran. Don’t get me wrong, some of you are grouches, but mostly we’re pretty happy when we’re talking to one another. I very much have learned to appreciate that as I’ve been visiting other churches this sabbatical season.
Still, that danger is just around the temptation carousel. We could easily turn into a church where you bark at the “flight attendant” because you didn’t get the whole can of ginger ale and the peanuts happened to be stale. We could just huff and puff about our own “luggage” that we’re dragging around with us and not care about the person who is there with us.
Thankfully, the pilot of our “airplane” of University Lutheran is one who is exciting. He comes across the intercom with great messages for us from His Word about what the “flight” is going to be like. He assures us that everything is ok when it gets bumpy. And finally, He is just as excited He can be – because He is bringing us not only to a great destination, but He is going to help us have the best trip possible on the way.
So let’s enjoy the flight when we sit down with one another in worship. I’m looking forward to rejoining you on the flight.