Daily PresenceSample

One of the brightest seasons I remember in church followed in the aftermath of one of the darkest seasons. A disgruntled faction had combatted the church’s leadership for months. Sunday attendance had sagged to embarrassing lows. Congregational worship was boring, lifeless, and insincere. I remember going into the fellowship hall on Sunday mornings before church to grab a cup of coffee. Which faction was hanging out at the coffee pot? When the disgruntled gang staked their territorial claim to the coffee maker for one of their conspiratorial huddles, that was a coffee-less morning for me!

When the winter of that dreary spell broke after one of the disgruntled faction’s schemes exploded in their hands, they gathered up their bibles and purses and literally walked out, hurling predictions over their shoulders as they departed that the church would die without their leadership and financial means.

But that church’s death was not God’s plan. Instead, a radical season of revival swept through the body. Attendance soared. The congregation raised the rafters of the sanctuary with worship and music, vibrant and alive. On meeting days, we came early and stayed late as fellowship flourished. Church was fun!

Since that experience, I am more than ever convinced that church should be fun—not in the sense of entertaining, but in the sense that my family and I look forward to Sunday as our favorite day of the week because that’s the day God’s family gathers. And God surely loves his family together when the family is united in purpose and calling.

In today’s reading, we see a similar revival of fellowship and worship breaking out after Hezekiah’s reforms in the aftermath of King Ahaz’s dark, evil, and corrupt administration. We find the wordfellowship, so rarely occurring in the Old Testament, used in this passage to describe the unity that surged throughout the community as Hezekiah and the priests led the community to re-discover and return to authentic worship. They were having fun!

We recognize a spiritual principle in Hezekiah’s day, a principle that is no less true today: When God’s family comes together, united in worship and purpose, God takes pleasure. The past is overcome. God moves, convicts, reveals and heals. Worship soars. Fellowship abounds.

Church is fun! Amen!

So now, how about we have some fun?