Choosing Fun Over Drudgery

Choosing Fun Over Drudgery
This is the third week of our Lenten series, I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church. During this series, there are 6 critical choices that the author Rev. Paul Nixon says that need to be made. The first choice is Choosing Life Over Death…The Second Choice is Choosing Community Over Isolation…Which brings us to this week where our choice is Choosing Fun Over Drudgery…Now, Drudgery isn’t a word that’s used all together that often in common conversation, but it’s a word that sounds just like what it is…As the choices are set up—if death is the opposite of life & isolation is the opposite of community, then drudgery is the opposite of fun…And in each choice as we’ve looked at the obvious choice, we’ve discovered that there are times even with the obvious choice that it is difficult…This morning we turn our attention to choosing fun over drudgery…
Whenever you meet new people or are getting to know someone better, after all of the basic info questions have been asked, one of the first questions is usually “What do you do for fun?” Well, I want to ask that question to you this morning…What do you do for fun? (Wait for responses.)
The word “fun” doesn’t appear in the Bible, but the closest word that does appear between 105-191 times is the word “joy”…Do you know what that means? It means that the Bible is a joyful book! Christianity is a happy faith! How do we do our best to convey that message? The Gospel is not called the “okay news” or the “bad news”…The Gospel is called the “Good News”…How do we convey that message? Is it one that we share with excitement and passion or as an afterthought? Do we share the message of the Gospel with as much excitement and passion as we share with someone else what we do for fun?
Choosing Fun Over Drudgery…It is a choice that we have to make and it’s an important choice to make…Now, again, the obvious choice is to choose fun…We like things that are fun…If you had a choice to attend a party where people were laughing or a party where people sat and stared at each other…What would you choose? It’s a pretty clear choice and yet it is still a choice that we have to make, so there’s some difficulty in making it for some people…
When I was in college, I began to lead a praise band in the church I grew up…We all enjoyed what we did, and the praise band lead worship at the services on Wednesday nights and occasionally joined the Sunday morning service…When I went away to school and returned one Sunday morning, the new leaders of the praise band had grown the ministry and were leading the Sunday morning service more frequently. The particular worship service that I was at, my sister & I had gotten there late and the pews and balcony were all full, so we had to sit in the very back pew…As the worship service began and the music began to play and the praise band began to lead the music, I began to worship and to join in the singing…The second song was a very upbeat and rhythmic song, so I along with a scattering of some others began to clap along with the song…There was a woman who was sitting in front of me who turned around and gave me a dirty look a couple times before she turned around again in the middle of the song and said to me… “This is church. Church is not a place for happy noises.” I was taken aback by her comment at the time, but it didn’t stop me from worshipping in body and spirit…
The church is not a place for happy noises…It’s a statement that is biting and one that I have to admit I still strongly disagree with…Church is absolutely a place for happy noises…Our call to worship this morning we sang that this is the day…We will rejoice and be glad in it…We are to worship God joyfully! Church is absolutely a place for happy noises…
In our passage from Deuteronomy, where the instructions are being given about presenting offerings to God through the priest, the passage says that even as we reflect on what has happened in the life of the Israelites, God tells them that when they bring their offering they should celebrate…The church is a place for happy noises…The church is a place where fun should be chosen over drudgery…
Drudgery can be quite an easy choice to make and we don’t even realize that we’re making it…when you share with someone what you do in coming to worship or attending meetings or attending other events of the church, how do you tell them that you come? Do you say, “I have to go to church today.” Or do you say, “I get to go to church today.” How we come to worship God or serve in ministry should be done with joy…It should be fun…
Another way that we choose drudgery is how we talk about the church, the ministries, and about God…When negativity is shared about these things, it is a very clear choice of choosing drudgery over fun…Some very clear examples of this would be…talking about an event or worship—“Nobody’s going to come.” “That’s a stupid time to do that.” “It’ll be interesting to see what happens with that, especially with so-and-so leading it.” “I can’t believe they’re doing that, that’s ridiculous…” Anytime that negativity has been shared, drudgery has just been chosen…If you were to hear from someone around town that something is ridiculous and won’t work…are you likely to attend that? It is very important to choose fun over drudgery…
Now that’s not to say that as Christians or as members of the church, we’re not allowed to share concerns or talk about things openly and honestly. That is absolutely something that we should be able to do…But who do we communicate that with first? If you have a problem, concern, or complaint with a ministry that is happening, the very first person that you should be sharing that with is the person with whom you have the issue…It is not to share that with everyone else but that person…
Now it is very true that it is a balance of fun…Let me be clear to say that joy should be at every single gathering…The wedding that Jesus attended at Cana was a joyous occasion! It was something to celebrate! Every single gathering should be joyful! There should be an element of joy that is at every single gathering…The danger can be choosing too much fun or choosing fun without a purpose…It can happen that fun becomes simply entertainment…But when we have chosen to share the Good News, that becomes our purpose…When we choose to share the message of Jesus Christ, we have a purpose and it is important to share that message through all ways—words and actions.
Fun is not something that is undignified or something that we shouldn’t do because it is irreverent or disrespectful to God…Quite the opposite! God continually calls us to celebrate or to worship joyfully…God wants us to choose fun over drudgery!
The message of grace is one that is filled with joy and celebration…The Good News of Jesus Christ is one that is filled with joy and celebration! Why wouldn’t we want to share that?? Choosing fun over drudgery—it’s an important choice to make…How are you going to make that choice in your own life? How are we going to make that choice as a church? Choosing fun over drudgery…