Easy Like a Sunday Morning

     There are a lot of people who do not "go to church" on Sunday mornings. I know, because I was one of them last Sunday.
     About four or five times a year, I take the Sunday off. Sometimes our family visits other churches in the area, just for a change of pace. But sometimes, I must confess, our family simply sleeps in.
     Last Sunday -- after a long flight home from Baltimore the night before -- was a sleep-in Sunday. At 10:30 AM, we left the house to drive my daughter to a 1 o'clock swim meet that was about an hour away. Along the way, we stopped at the local Wal-Mart to load up on snacks and drinks for the pool deck, and lo-and-behold, Wal-Mart was packed! People were strolling the aisles in flip-flops and shorts, enjoying a little value shopping on Sunday morning. As we drove away from Wal-Mart, I noticed other parking lots and storefronts were packed! Roads were busy! A dozen or so pick-up trucks toted ski boats and Jet Skis, as families made their way to the lake.
     My conclusion? It's not rocket science. A lot of people do not worship on Sunday mornings. Some of the people we observed, to be fair, would worship later that evening, if their church home offers a Sunday night service. Others, perhaps, had worshiped the night before. And maybe a few of them were pastors like me playing hooky. But there is no denying that many people choose not to worship on Sunday mornings!
     There are several potential reasons for his. The first is that a large number of people in McKinney, Texas, are not Christians. If this is the case, it seems logical that such people would not attend worship services on Sunday mornings. A second reason is that it was Pastor Sunday at Wal-Mart, and thousands of other pastors were also taking the day off. A more likely explanation is that these are Christians who have chosen to do other things on Sunday mornings. When considering the question, "What should I do with my Sunday morning?" many people consistently choose to stay away from worshiping communities of believers in the local church.
     This realization t is not shocking to me. I am not offended by it. I do not stand in judgment of these people. It simply shows that we have a lot of work to accomplish in the Church today, even in the so-called Bible Belt.
    Granted this was just one small sample of, "Sunday Mornings at Wal-Mart in McKinney, Texas," but I think I would find the same pattern, next week, and the week after that, whether it be springtime, summer, or fall.
    I offer no solutions or recommendations. I'm just calling it like I see it, and hopefully my exposure to ground zero can motivate me (and other church leaders) to be more invitational. Perhaps it is showing us the hard truth that our culture is becoming more secular by the moment, and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is still needed in our own backyard.