Sorry for whacking another post on so soon after my last one!
Forgive me!
But I felt I had to put this one out today. So I am just being obediant!
Here goes.
Waking up is always a pleasure.
Some people are morning people.
Some are not. (My wife for one!)
I am.
I love getting up early, getting a coffee, and just sitting, basking in the quiet of the waking hours of the day.
Its a time to ponder the day ahead.
Look to the possibilities, the joys, the conflicts, the meetings, the encounters that lay ahead.
Not to mention pondering the thought of a cheeky full English breakfast and thinking of ways to do that without Dawn finding out!!!
I co-inhabit the morning hours with God.
Waking up is easy for me.
Why do I share this little personal glimpse in to the morning life of Gary?
Because this morning I am wide awake and have come for a coffee at Starbucks.
I read the headline in a national newspaper. Its the front page headline blaring its message out from the thin paper in thick black font.
It reads.
THE CHURCH FACES EXTINCTION!
It goes on to say that the Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the Church of England faces extinction just one generation from now.
Get with the programme media!!
People have been saying that for years.
Its nothing new.
Its nothing we don't know already.
I have met the very same Arch-Bishop a few times, he is a nice guy. Im sure he would be the first to say that this isn't ground smashing news.
Of course its probably fairly accurate.
But its not new.
But the Spirit of God whispers. He whispers into my fresh morning awaking ears.
"The church is just sleeping."
I felt a sharp clarity in my being that allowed me to see a picture of the church in bed, sleeping, snoring, dribbling, warm comfortable and in no danger of waking up soon. Don't ask me to describe what the church looks like in bed.
But.
I can say with confidence.
The church is not a morning person.
It likes.
Bed.
Sleep.
Dreaming of creating more brilliant new structures and frameworks to help keep it in bed. Dreaming of more strategies to help it not to reach anybody. Dreaming of more arguments, disagreements, and mind numbing red tape it can create. Dreaming of creating meanings for mission, when actually guys, hello, God is the mission, he's already carrying it out. Dreaming of more ways to make prayer an irrelevant thing that gets in the way of our slumber.
But.
It cant stay in bed for ever.
Well it can actually.
It could sleep till it literally dies.
It could confirm the Arch-Bishops suspicions.
But.
Listen up Church.
To the bible.
At risk of God repeating himself.
Time and time again.
Through his word.
God says.
"Wake up O sleeper and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
Wake up!
Stop with the "I don't do mornings thing!
Wake up.
Get washed in the blood of Christ. Get dressed in the righteousness of Christ. Breakfast on his word, literally eat it guys. Ponder on the day ahead prepare for the challenges ahead in his presence. Put your backpack on for the day, put in it the love of Christ and carry it with you all day and share it with anyone you meet. Go into the day with your ultimate companion and speak with him all day. Leave the warmth of the dangerous duvet and get yourself up. Youve slept that long now you should have enough energy to save the world.
Wake up.
God is already up guys.
He is ahead of us.
He's ready.
He expects the church to be too.
