“We praise you, God, we praise you, for your Name is near; people tell of your wonderful deeds.” Psalm 75:1
Dear friends,
SRO
I think the first time I heard a reference to SRO it was the name of an album performed by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. I wonder how many of you remember their music? Back when I was a child it seemed that I was purchasing every one of their albums and I didn’t know what those initials meant. But I do now.
STANDING ROOM ONLY …. S.R.O., which pretty much explains the condition of our church sanctuary twice recently and frankly it felt so good to sense the energy of that rainbow reflection of God’s neighborhood! I paused to watch the smiles and the hugs or hand-shakes that were shared. People gathering together IN CHURCH for a church service where, yes, we would read Scripture, sing to God, and a message would be preached.
Once upon a time having a filled church was not an unusual phenomenon, but these days it is a rarity. People find excuses to not come to church, and they even have excuses to not worship online, which we make very easy to do.
The truth about our church, which is an energetic and vital church doing amazing work in the community, is that we are perhaps only one-third filled on most Sundays. On Christmas Eve amongst the standing room only crowd were faces that I haven’t seen in a long time and some strangers too. Obviously, I was not surprised that I didn’t know many of the folks who came to celebrate Elaine Blair’s life, but they too filled our church’s sanctuary.
I know that many of you were very invitational this past Christmas season! Many of you included our Christmas invitation cards in with your Christmas cards and some of you placed the cards in restaurants or other businesses. After all, it was Christmas, and we definitely wanted people to worship with us on Christmas Eve, right?
But what about Sunday, January 19th? Don’t we want our family members, our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, or some of our members who don’t come to church very often … don’t we want them to worship God with us on that Sunday? Or in February and March? Do we value our weekly worship as much as we value inviting people to worship so that they can hold a candle in the dark?
I believe in 2025 that our little church in West Deptford can grow. I believe we need to grow and that we offer those living around us with a unique place to worship God and Jesus Christ where everyone is always welcome with love and where we worship with joy!
I believe that we can help make the world a better place in our own way by encouraging others to worship God with us. Perhaps they’ll help with the Food Pantry or start a new Bible Study. Maybe they will become regulars at Red Bird, helping us make the lives of those living in one of our nation’s poorest counties better.
God has told us that where two or more are gathered in God’s name that God is there for our worship moments. But as a church, we are stronger when we are growing. So join me in a commitment to invite others to come to worship with you in the coming weeks! And be ready to take some posters about our church to businesses you visit and to hand out cards to your friends.
I hope you would smile along with me if on a Sunday not called Christmas Eve it would be hard to find room to sit. SRO … wasn’t Christmas Eve awesome?
Pastor Dave