“As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing, but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God” (C S Lewis).

One of my regular activities is doing the graphics at The Church at Avenue South. That means that I press a button to advance the lyrics of the worship songs, cue the appropriate videos, and display all other assorted slides relating to announcements, the sermon, and just about anything else.

If I do my job well, no one knows I’m back there. That’s my goal. To remain anonymous by not screwing up. Most Sundays I do quite well, with only the occasional minor mishap (like being a split second late on a slide).

But I got to thinking. The best church service (according to one Mr C. S. Lewis) wouldn’t be one where we talked about how great the music was or how inspiring the sermon was. If anything, this service would inspire us to love and reverence and speak more highly about God.

If it doesn’t inspire us to greater obedience, it hasn’t been worship. If it doesn’t motivate us to draw closer to the heart of God, it might as well have been a great motivational speech instead of a sermon. If we aren’t transformed from hearers only into doers and followers, then it was a waste of time.

But the beauty of it all is that God invites us to know Him and to find community through His people. You don’t have to be perfect people with perfect lives to encounter God. You just have to have a hunger and a desire for God. That’s all.