The Caution Tape

Today was a good Sunday. I preached a sermon that I was passionate about (using Luke 4:21-30), I had the congregation sing a brand new and powerful song, and I got to break through some caution tape as part of my sermon...caution tape, in the sanctuary! It was awesome. I wasn't quite sure what people would do with all of the interesting new things, especially in the traditional worship. I wasn't too worried about the Prayz service because I'm always trying strange and new things in there. My sermon was called, "Breaking the Rules" and it was basically about the fact that Jesus broke the rules...because he loved. He didn't just want to fit into a certain mold of society or be what a certain group of people needed him to be...he challenged what the "rules" are, and so we should do the same thing. Doing the right thing is not always the popular thing, and sometimes we need to figure out what are the things in our lives that might be hindering us from seeing the bigger picture of what God is doing. I honestly kept thinking about the situation with the choir at church- they don't want to compromise for anyone and they don't want to see beyond their own agendas or their own desires in order for a positive change to occur. Churches are, for the most part, so against change. So I challenged that today (not pointing fingers at anyone of course!) saying that we really need to think about what is holding us back from working for the good of God's kingdom. So the caution tape was a good visual for us to have- that we should break through it in order to challenge ourselves, to break the rules...to love! What are we waiting for?!

And I actually got some good responses, even though I'm sure not everyone was totally comfortable...but I think that church should challenge us, don't you? Maybe we should have caution tape in the sanctuary every Sunday to remind us of our own barriers and rules we create that keep us from God and showing God's love. What do you think? ;)