A lot has changed in since the founding of the Kansas City Board of Trade in the late 1800’s. There were pictures on display as testimony to the changes. One showed the early trading room filled with desks set in orderly rows, with gentlemen in suits standing beside them. This day looked like casual Friday for hippies, with men sporting pony tails dressed in cargo shorts and sandals. In the corner near my chair in front of me stood a row of antique phone booths, once the most modern of trading technology. To my left taller desks, stands really, filled with the latest computers, laptops, and tablets, all communicating the latest in market info. Above me lighted electronic boards that had long ago replaced black boards and chalk flashed prices and news from around the world.
The room was full of testaments to how technology and people have changed the nature of my business in the last 155 years. We just don’t do things the way we used to; I don’t ride a horse to work for one, I set in an air conditioned office and trade with people I have never met face to face. I also didn’t think twice about keeping the grandkids for a week and returning them in a hurry up 3 day 2000 mile trip. Some changes are for the better. But that is not my point.
Sunday night I lay in a hotel bed, made ready and available for me by people that worked this Sunday, and thought about the unimaginable number of people I saw today that did not or could not attend church, yes some by choice. I would wager at least some might have liked to have been in church, but the world has changed. When does a single mom working most late afternoons and evenings get to see her son (or daughter) play baseball? When does a Sunday hotel desk clerk get to attend church? Every business, everything that touches my life has made adjustments to a 24 hour 7 day a week world except church services. Why is worship service always 11 am on Sunday morning with Sunday School at 9:30? That misses a world of people.
As I lay in bed a smile came over my face as I asked myself the question, if Jesus was walking around town on a Sunday morning and there was an ice skating rink full of people, a ball park full of kids, or the mega church service on the edge of town where would he go?. I laughed to myself, the ball park of course, for a sermon on the mound.
Yes, Christians should gather for worship and for years we have had Sunday Morning, Sunday Night, and Wednesday services. Some have dropped Sunday night, others Wednesdays. Like the grain business we need to be open more hours not less, we need to flexible in our worship and ministry schedules. Yes there are weekly men’s bible studies, women’s groups, and youth programs but for most churches these are not the same quality as Sunday morning.
My last thought, again with a smile, was of the author’s instructions in the book of Hebrews… “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves…..” I laid there wondering was he talking to the moms and dads at the ballpark, the individuals at the ice rink before 7 am, orto me as a lay leader saying “make it easy for Christians to get together”. Tonight it was the latter.
I am thinking I’ll start a chain of convenience churches, Heaven’s 7 -11, Quikchurch, or Jesus Loves. Open 7 days a week, including holidays. Of course our tithe will have to be 12% instead of 10, you have to pay for convenience.
