Between Sundays

My son Emerson is 5 years old and he is just now becoming aware of the sequence of days. Where Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. were just words, now he is connecting them to his life. Friday, he knows, is show-and-tell day at school. That is followed by Saturday which, for the most part, is our family's Sabbath. We spend the day together goofing off. He's figured out that after Friday and Saturday comes Sunday, when we "go to church." He still checks with us though. When he wakes up he asks Trish or me, "Is this church day?" When we answer affirmatively, he is sometimes excited. He enjoys being with his friends and singing the songs and learning the verses. Other times he is disappointed. Church edges out school in his young mind and heart, but neither is as good as staying home and playing with Play Doh with Mom and Dad.

Isn't that amazing? Even at the tender age of five, he's already made the connection. He has bought into the idea that most of us accepted long ago. Sunday is for church, and, unfortunately, church is for Sunday. On Sunday, we go to church. Sometimes we do it willingly, because we enjoy the music, the fellowship, the message. Other times we would rather hang out at home and play with Play Doh, but we go anyway.

Between Sundays, where most of our life occurs, is a different story, however. It's "real" life, away from the music and the comforting smell of the sanctuary. Here is the crazy thing though--we are still the church between Sundays. Between Sundays, we still love God, love others, and serve the world.

In fact, if we are not the church between Sundays, there is little reason to gather as the church on Sundays. Hmmmm, maybe that is why fewer and fewer are choosing to do so.

What are some ways we can encourage and support one another in being the church between Sundays?