This past week we loaded up everyone into the van for a short family vacation to South Dakota. Leaving Sunday morning we made it to the Badlands that afternoon and stayed in Wall. Monday we then went to Reptile Gardens where Titus tried talking to the tortoises, then on to Mt. Rushmore in the afternoon. Tuesday morning we headed to Bear Country USA and after it decided to start heading home around 1pm. So of course being a male I decide that we’re going to drive straight home and finally got there around midnight. Maybe not the wisest move for my wife’s sanity with our youngest, Kelly, screaming “mama, mama” the entire 10hrs strapped into her government required car-seat. But we all made it home and had a great time.
So on the way home as Deedie and I talked about the progress of the church and how things have been going, having just celebrated our first year of ministry, it made me think about summer vacations and how they affect our walk with Jesus. The trend has always been, summer comes and church attendance lowers drastically, and I think that’s extremely sad. Summer vacation has become synonymous with vacation from church & God. So why? Why do so many Americans seem to take a vacation from God during the summer as if the school calendar dictates our walk with Him?
Now I realize summer may be a busier time for many families, with ball games, vacations, summer festivals, and just a lot more to do outside. The vast majority of those attending CPC have done pretty well this summer, but overall in American Christianity people pull away from church at this time of year and get plugged back in when school starts back up, but that’s not how it should be. The illustration I love is that of the burning coal. When you remove a burning coal from a fire and hold it out on it’s own, what happens? It begins to die out and lose its glow. Stick it back into the fire and it shines brightly again. The same can be true for our faith in Christ. When we are not involved with the church, the body of Christ, our faith withers and becomes less important. We don’t get the opportunities to grow in our walk with God and can fade out and lose our glow. There are, of course, those who will say they don’t need to go to church to be a “Christian” and to an extent I agree. I have always been one who would be perfectly fine if dropped in the middle of the Rocky’s all alone. But the more I grow in my walk with God the more I realize I can’t do this thing on my own and God has created us to need each other and live in community. So really those who say they don’t need the church really don’t understand what it means to “be” a Christian. When we take vacations from God it halts our growth to the point where we can become as dysfunctional as the Griswold family. Times of refreshing, yes. But a vacation from the church and God, no. Faith is active and we need to be involved with the body if we’re going to continue growing in our walk and understanding of Christ.
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