Sunday Morning Pit Stop

Greetings church!

I hope that you all were able to have a meaningful thanksgiving in this crazy year! This morning I am thinking about Nascar – specifically about “pit stops”. I read this morning that pit stops are crucial to success in a race. Any given car is going to go at high speeds for 100’s of miles for long periods of time. This means that they will need new tires, their 18-gallon tank will need to be filled up, and there will likely be something things that break and need repaired along the way. As a result, a car will make 4-12 pit stops in a race given how long it is. When they do make a pit stop there is a crew waiting with tires, gas, air guns and whatever else they’ll need to get that car ready to get back into the race! The pit stop is not the main thing a race car does. But the pit stop is essential to that main thing a race car does, which is race.

 

These are strange times indeed. COVID 19! What in the world is God doing through all of this?

This past Sunday, we made the point that when we are going through a difficult time instead of asking “Why me?” ask “What is God trying to teach me through this?”

 

I was thinking about that question and these times today. What could God be trying to teach me, could be trying to teach the Church through this time? Now, there are a lot of answers to this question. In fact, we will be spending an entire sermon series next year specifically on lessons we’ve learned through COVID. But there is one that struck me this morning that find particularly convicting. I believe God is teaching the church and myself that Sunday morning service is a pit stop, not the race. What I mean to say is, Sunday morning is not the main thing the Christian is supposed to do, running the race is the main thing the Christian is supposed to do. 

 

Hebrews 12:1 says this to every Christian, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…”

 

I believe that many Christians, myself included, have come to see the Sunday morning service the main thing a Christian does. Can you imagine how silly it would be if Nascar was all about the pit stops and not the race? Cars would stop racing all together and just cruise to the next pit stop. Could it be that some Christians have stopped running the race because they believe the pit stops are the main thing?

 

It’s interesting that the reason a race car needs a pit stop is because it is running the race so hard. Its tires are near evisceration, its tank is running on “E” (a problem I am all too familiar with), and there are parts that need immediate attention because of the constant and hard work the car has been doing. Is that why you go to church? Because you have worn yourself out running the race that your tank is almost empty and needs refilled, your spiritual body needs to rest, and you have some dents, some sins and doubts that need to be shared? Do you feel the need for Sunday because of the race you are running?

 

It’s also interesting to note that the purpose of the pit stop is to get the car back in the race. I read this morning that a good pit crew can get a brand new set of tires on a car in 2 seconds flat. They work hard and fast because the goal is to get the car back in the race. The purpose of a restaurant is to feed you with food you like so you don’t have to cook. But the purpose of a pit stop is to refresh you so you can keep going. 

 

I love Sunday morning. It is essential – without the pit stop we can’t continue the race – we need the fellowship, we need to sing praise together, and – most important of all – wee need to participate in communion together - but I fear that I have made it into an idol. I fear that I, and maybe some others, have focused so much on the pit stop that we’ve forgotten the race!

 

So, let’s you and me, run this race so hard this week that we are likely to crash if we don’t have a pit stop by Sunday. 

 

Love you church! 

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