Why Not Now?

This year has been both a punch to the gut and a kick in the pants.

How are you responding?

More importantly, what is the LORD saying to you? To your church?

I occasionally have glimpses into how far we’ve gone into this post-apocalyptic world. It’ll happen when I remember something that used to be common.

I was driving through town, and I thought of our local fútbol team, the Heredianos. I reveled in how fun it will be to take our kids to see a soccer match. Something fluttered awake in me at the thought. I don’t know when we’ll be able to go, but that will be a glorious cultural celebration to experience with them. I can’t wait!

But that idea takes me to another world. One that existed before everything came crashing down and then just got untenably weird and unsustainably restricted. That’s the punch in the gut. (Real and painful, albeit nothing compared to the loss of life.)

On Sunday, I was sitting in “church.” Required masks, hand washing, temperature checks, physical distancing…all doable annoyances.

But the real thing I hate is the government’s rule against live music. Our church usually plays the recorded video of the two songs that go out for virtual church, and we sing along. It feels a bit like going to the gym, only to watch a video of somebody working out. Hence the quotes around “church.”

I sat in the beautiful, brand-new, 1100-seat auditorium. It’s so new that there’s no sound system installed yet. Two portable Peavey’s on sticks flank the platform. (did their logo just flash in your mind?)

I find this energy welling up inside me of what could be done to steward this place. Can we dig a deep well of worship? Can we build a family of worshipers? Can we grow a culture of musical and leadership development? Can we implement an organic discipleship process?

Dreams, vision, hope, expectation! The previous worship directors recently transitioned to associate pastors, and a new couple is directing the worship ministry. So there’s leadership change as well.

And other than occasional participation on the team, I’ve not been asked to lead anything. I’m just who I am. I want to come alongside the leaders and be a supportive blessing to them.

But it’s the kick in the pants from the LORD.

I feel a bit antsy. Like Dave, stop pretending that the world ended. Keep pursuing the LORD and partnering with him to build the Church. Stop waiting until they lift all the restrictions, and we can be normal again.

So why not now, y’all?

I know many of you are already going for it. Full throttle ahead!

Some of us are afraid. Cling to the promise of Jesus in John 16:32-33. “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

And you know those occasionally pestering thoughts from the Holy Spirit that you get? (Maybe you don’t always recognize them as from Him, but they are little inklings of “do this…” or “what if you’d try this…”) Follow them.

Why not now? Ask Him if it’s time and just go for it. Give these last weeks of the year the same energy we often give to the first weeks of a new year. The punch in the gut and kick in the pants can be gifts from the LORD. Ask Him what He wants you to do with them and follow His lead.

Let’s do this together!

-Dave Helmuth
(purchase my book, "Worship Fertilizer: (the first hundred)" HERE)

Why Not Now? (Nº 264)