Beyond mere work

It is Saturday, and my agenda for the day consisted of writing a sermon, liturgies, bulletins, and newsletters. Today was exceptional in that I got to the bulletin before Sunday morning. The bulletin is something that gets done as my brain wakes up and prepares to preach on Sunday morning. It is part of my routine. Today I decide to get it done early. As I sat an watched a movie I folded bulletins and newsletters. There was something incredibly peaceful about this time. Bulletins are usually hastely folded as people file into church on Sunday morning. The bulletins at Park church, where I am associate are usually folded by the secretary. As I folded the bulletins I was overcome with a sense of satisfaction and peace. Not because there was something special about these bulletins. Despite my best efforts I am sure there are still typos and things I forgot to include. As I gazed at the Order of Worship that is what I saw, worship. Somehow the words, the numbers, the events, the hymns, they all blurred into one great worship of God. The bulletin was a vehicle to the Divine. I do not know how to explain it. Preparing the bulletin was not about one more task that had to be done so I could sleep well tonight, preparing the bulletin was entering into a spirit of worship. As a Pastor it is easy for God to get lost in the details, in all the little things that I need to do as part of my job. Today it was not merely work, today it really was about enabling others to worship God. Today all the little things I did for my small church seemed a part of some greater presence, a part of God's continued voice in the world. My prayer tonight is the same I always pray before worship and before I preach. I pray that someone how God finds a way to transform my work into something meaningful to someone. I pray that someone hears God in the scripture, or sees God in the lights on the altar, or in their neighbor in worship. I pray that people can just get to know God. Tonight I also pray that I do not forget what a bulletin is really about, that is never just work to be done, but is always an act of worship, the most important thing I do every week.