In the late '70s and early '80s, rock-n-roll became edgier, harder, and had ALOT more hair. It was the absolute opposite of the Barry Manilow, BeeGees, preppy pop of just a few years prior. One of the bands with the most influence was a band from Pasadena, California.....Van Halen.
Van Halen has almost had as much drama surrounding them as they have had chart-topping singles. Who will be the lead singer this week? David Lee Roth? Sammy Hagar? Gary Cherone? David Lee Roth? Again? Whatever the composition of the band, the music always stands out. As of July 18th, Van Halen's newest album, with Roth as the lead singer, "A Different Kind Of Truth", was listed as the 6th best selling album of 2012. This is the first studio album since 1998 and features the 4th change of lead singers.
But it was a song from 1992, with Sammy Hagar at lead vocals, that reignited the Van Halen interest for a new generation of rock-n-rollers. It was a song about priorities and the urgency with which we should spend every moment of our lives. It is one of 24 singles by Van Halen to make it to the top 100 charts, peaking at #55. Let's take a listen from the Toronto, Canada leg of the Balance World Tour..with Alex in a neck brace and Eddie with no hair.....right now!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n4g1bGITLc
What do you need to do right now? Is there anything in your life that is so pressing that it can't wait? Life is about priorities. What is really important to us get's done right away. But what about what is important to God? Do we make Biblical instruction a priority? Psalm 25:5 - "Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; I wait for You all day long." Do we make time to be discipled and disciple others? Matthew 28:19-20, "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit teaching them everything I have commanded you, and remember I am with you always, even to the end of the age." What exactly do both of these things look like? For generations, the early Christians met together as often as they could, some even met daily, to seek wisdom, study the scriptures, pray, and instruct others (make disciples). Eventually through cultural transitions and the establishment of a systematic work week, many Christians made the first day of the week, Sunday, as the day they would come together to seek wisdom, study scripture, pray, and make disciples. This was a priority for them. Nothing else would ever come into conflict with this time set aside for God. They took Psalm 27:4 literally, "One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple." The Musical Notes paraphrase of this verse is "It's time to go to church....right now!"
Fast forward to 2012. The Church universal is seeing growth, however, the Church in the United States is in a period of decline. Membership rolls contain names of people that haven't been to the church since they joined. Sundays have become another day to schedule events. Why do other things take priority over seeking wisdom, studying scriptures, praying, and disciple-making? Please do not misunderstand or take offense. The Notes concedes that some Church absenteeism occurs due to sickness and that EVERYONE needs a vacation. Also, many employees and associates have very little control over the scheduling of the hours they are to work. How many good Christian folks are causing the necessity for workers to be scheduled on Sunday by their eating out and shopping? I think I hear a glass house being shattered......
As a contrast, Chick-fil-A has determined that the dollar is not more important than its reverence to setting aside the first day of the week for its employees to at least have the choice about attending church. The Notes notices that most of Chick-fil-A restaurants have very little difficulty making up for any revenue loss by being closed on Sunday through the business they attract the remainder of the week.
What would happen if we decided that right now, Sundays would be for God. What would happen if the children of God politely refused to participate in any activity that would be a detriment to their ability to attend church? Would the groups be able to do the event? This is a high standard to set, and perhaps we have gone too far to turn back, but we must ponder what example we are setting to our preChristian neighbors and more importantly to our preChristian family members and children if we allow our priorities to shift towards good activities and events that we allow to be scheduled on Sunday and away from the Godly activities and events that occur on Sunday. We can politely decline or request changes are made to events when they get in the way of Sunday being reserved for the body of Christ.
"Miss the beat, you lose the rhythm, And nothing falls into place, no, Only missed by a fraction, Slipped a little off your pace, oh, The more things you get, the more you want, Just trade in one for the other, Workin so hard, to make it easier, whoa, Got to turn, c'mon turn this thing around Right now, there's no tomorrow, right now, it's everything..."
Right now, a friend needs you to be prepared to tell your conversions story, Right now, your children are wondering what's going on this Sunday.....Right now, the Body of Christ is needing you to do your part, Right now, someone is planning how to budget the finite time of their weekend.....
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by loving you,
Randy
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