Such distracting days and times

I spoke with a local pastor yesterday who asked if we had good crowd at church on Sunday. I had to say no, it was among the worst Sundays of the year. He was quite relieved because he said the same was true for his small rural church. He said it was the smallest attendance they have had since he was pastor at that church. It was World Communion Sunday, no ice storms, a beautiful day really, and yet so few chose to come to church and offer their worship or share in God's meal of grace and forgiveness.

We continued to bemoan the culture and the times we find ourselves in and with much sadness in our hearts came to the conclusion that what all the experts have been saying about our churches and our faith is true. The churches are shrinking and our Christian faith is not seen as an anchor in the storms by much of the people in the world around us.

I wonder how much we will need to shrink before we go out and share our faith or even share how our faith is helping us through these days of depressing predictions about our finances or our future. Which then leads to the question...is your faith helping you through these days of severe market down turns?

I share this from "The Message" Matthew 6: approx14-3something

"Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or - worse! stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!
You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both.
If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
Has anyone, by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion - do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and loot at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the coutnry look shabby alongside them.
If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers - most of which are never even seen - don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works, Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

I pray these words meet you where you are...and that there is some light shed on the darkness of these day. And I pray we will choose worship this next Sunday morning.
Peace!