Yee-Haw!!!

We just finished up another great year of VBS!  What a joy it was to partner with the Neola Presbyterian church and see a group of about 80 kids come and have a blast and learn a little something too.  The program on Sunday was pretty cool if I do say so myself.  Again, I want to say thank you to everyone who helped with VBS in anyway, and a special thank you to Tracy for all her hard work in organizing and running the VBS.
As I talked about during my sermon it was neat to see and feel the kids enthusiasm.  It was neat to watch the kids get into the singing and dancing more and more.  The first time we sang the songs some of the kids were pretty reserved and didn't get too involved.  By the end of the first night they were really getting into both the words and the actions of the songs.  The final couple of nights I think they were eagerly waiting to sing along with the songs.  It was also neat to talk with the kids and hear about what they learned and what they took away from the whole week.  If you were there to see it the kids energy was infectious and it made your day no matter how tired you thought you were.
As I reflected on their eagerness to learn I wondered where our eagerness to learn about and serve God goes.  How come as we get older that unbridled enthusiasm is harder and harder to find.  Ok, I'll admit there is no way we will have the same energy as 3 year old's through 5th graders, but how come it is hard to find that joy?  Think about the energy in church if we all came with the same eagerness to see what we could learn about God and experience the Spirit's presence.  How different would our worship experience be if we really let our whole selves get involved in the worship service?  I'm not advocating for dancing in the aisles and a lot of hootin and hollerin', but maybe a small change in our attitude.  Instead of walking into the sanctuary with our minds full of lists of things to do, minds tired from having to be up before noon, or whatever else gets in our way of fully engaging in worship, how would we connect with God if we were simply eager to see what we could learn and experience again?!
So, the next time you're settling into worship take some time to clear your mind and prepare yourself to experience the Spirit in a new and exciting way.