Small Vs Large

For most of my Christian life I have been apart of small congregations. I grew up in one, my first full time work was a small one. When we moved to Germany, there were only about 35 or 40 of us meeting in a store front. We moved to Hanover, PA in 1980 to begin a congregation with just three other families. So being apart of the Madison church has really been a new experience for us. This past Sunday was one of those days when you realize certain blessings of a large congregation. Jim and Barbie Lanier along with the talented direction of Mark Carver, and a host of volunteer performers put on one of the finest drama presentations of the Passion of Christ that I have seen. The drama opened with two guys going on a fishing trip, one a committed Christian and one because of the untimely death of his son on a mission trip, had lost his faith. As they discussed life and talked about the Passion of Christ the lights moved from one side of the stage to the other telling both stories. The story continued to unfold until the point of Jesus being crucified. The pounding of the nails echoed through out the building. When he was raised on the cross, tastefully done I might add, there were not many dry eyes in the crowd. The performance reached its peak when Jesus came out of the tomb to the song, "He’s Alive". The overflow crowd broke into applause in joy over remembering once again the triumphal resurrection of the Lord. When services were over my oldest grand daughter looked up at me and said, "Papa, I cried." I replied, "I did too." All of my grand children were there, and I am so glad. I am not suggesting that you have to have a big production to be able to appreciate the resurrection of the Lord. But I think it is important to be as creative as you can when telling the old, old story. Easter Sunday is often the only time in the course of the year that some people will even bother to attend a church service. That makes it all the more important to make those age old events even more real. I remember a time when Easter Sunday was a time when preachers would often take cheap shots at those who showed up but were not regular in attendance. May God forgive us! Rather than berating, we need to be lifting up the Lord, and allowing His sacrifice and its power to be presented in all its glory to touch the hearts of men, women and children everywhere. So regardless of the size of the congregation, lets be sure we tell the story in a BIG way.