Here I am, Lord

Guess who I was there for...

One of our KICK kids invited me to her school program. I came, not because I knew it was going to be a great performance. I came just because I knew she wanted me there. Her face lit up when she saw me. Then her mom caught sight of me and said, “She was so excited you were coming.” She did great, but even if she didn’t it wouldn’t have mattered. I didn’t come to experience a mind-blowing performance. I came because that little girl matter to me, and I wanted her to know she was worth my time.

My guess is you have experienced part of this story. You have been the kid who someone showed up for or you have been the adult who put in extra effort to be there for someone else. Some of us have experienced this in reverse: someone didn’t show up for us. We know that disappointment.

We often forget how important showing up is. It seems so small.

I have “shown up” to worship every Sunday since… well… forever. I show up for the same reasons as I did as that little girl…I come because God matters to me. I go because he is worth my time. I have sat through some really bad music, even worse sermons, and have “gotten nothing out of it” many times. But it doesn’t matter to me, because I love God so much…he is worth showing up for every time.

That’s my starting point, but there is more to showing up to worship than that.

See, when I was in high school, my dad got a job working on Sunday mornings. He had gone regularly to worship with our family up to that point. When he stopped, he got really grumpy…really mean. He became miserable to live with. Did he stop believing in Jesus? No, absolutely not. But something had changed.

My dad and I in 2015

Finally I asked him if he would go with me before work to an early service at a church closer to his work. I don’t know how to explain what happened next other than to say, by the time he got home from work he was my dad again. Neither he nor I can tell you anything about that service, but it changed him. And I’m not talking about the intentional stuff we try to do as disciples. I mean all that stuff we take for granted…the tone in his voice, the way he hugged my mother, his patience with us, it all changed.

My hunch of what happened is that we weren’t the only ones who showed up. To this day, I believe God showed up, and the Holy Spirit changed my dad from the inside out. I can’t prove it, but I sincerely believe something happens when we come together as the body of Christ to intentionally meet God.

As a pastor, I do everything I can to make sure our worship has good music, an engaging and practical sermon, and has meaningful content. But as a disciple, I am willing to show up even if the service flops. Because God can do something in that service even when all of us people fail. Because showing up for God matters all on its own.