The big banner advertising a 30 minute worship service caught my attention because my own church is doing all they can to shorten the service supposedly to make more time for Christian Education. I am all for education, but in the case of my church, readings from the Scriptures are being omitted. Go figure . . .Because various members of our clergy and I have exchanged emails about my unhappiness with our present service format, I could not help but send each of them this picture with a note that read, "Perhaps they will share their tips." I have not had a response from any of the priests. Perhaps they fail to see any humor in the above picture.
On a serious note, why are we in a such a hurry? I have always been under the impression that we have fast food, one hour glasses, drive-thru banking, etc. to simplify the mundane tasks of life thus freeing up time for the more important things - like church. I am having a hard time figuring out what we are supposed to be doing with all of our time. What is so important that we need a 30 minute worship service?
There are Sundays when sleep seems more important to me than going to church, but there a very few times that I actually give in and stay in bed. If I am going to get up and go then I want to attend a full service. It is hardly worth getting up and dressed for 30 minutes. I could just turn on one of those televangelists if that is all I need.
Maybe I am just sensitive to issues of time - because I never seem to have enough of it. I can think of ways to manage my days a little better, but reducing Sunday worship to 30 minutes is not one of them. Central Market for a cup of soup rather than cooking it and doing dishes afterwards - that's a possibility.
