one in five

Monday August 23rd, Isaiah 58 13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14 then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken. I will not kid myself, not all spiritual worship is in church. There are many glorious moments out in this great land, especially here in Alaska, where one can have an invaluable primary experience with God. Most worship is considered a secondary experience with God, in that it is often public remembrance and celebration of other experiences. However, over the years the average attendance at worship has gone from two Sundays a month to one Sunday every five weeks (no scientific data, only my guesstamet) Perhaps this is a reflection on society in general or the church in general or particular, but whatever the cause, it is a call to implement some change. Most Holy days have moved from societal to religious. Wednesday evenings for church activities are long a thing of the past in most communities. Sunday mornings is sometimes when the hockey team can get ice time. When my daughter was in high school their school even had prom on the Saturday evening between Good Friday and Easter. In the Christian community we find it frustrating. Other faith traditions historically have seldom had their timing of traditions considered. How do you create Holy Time? How do you respect the Holy Time of other traditions? One solution is to help our congregations consider all time as Holy Time, and live our lives accordingly. Therefore at those times when we do gather for worship it is a celebration of God’s presence already experienced.