Hey Mister....Wake Up!!.......

I was day dreaming the other day while I sat in church. Shame on me. But
after all, it was just during the time that the ushers were collecting the
tithes and offerings. I was so happy. We had just had a wonderful Praise
and Worship session and I felt so full of the Spirit of God which always
shows up during our time of worship. My mind drifted back to when I was a
child. I remember one Sunday that my family and I were in church. I was
raised Catholic. Services in the Catholic church back then were strange to
me. First of all they were in Latin, which to a child just sounded like
muttering. I remember once I decided to join in the "muttering". Suddenly
I saw stars. My aunt, who heard me and thought that I was being
disrespectful, had given me a sharp rap on the back of the head. Okay.
Muttering was just for adults. What they didn't realize at the time was as
a child your head only rises about half way up the size of the crowd of
adults. The church was massive and all the voices created an incredible
echo and with everyone talking at once, all kids got down at our level was
"muttering". That is why I decided after the "rap" that muttering was an
adult activity. It was years until I could actually hear what was going on
and even then it was still in Latin. It was beautiful, but very reserved,
when everyone stood up at the same time and sang, although it was still in
Latin. And we sure got our exercise. Stand up, sit down, touch the floor
with your right knee and stand again, then kneel and put both knees on the
floor, do the Hokie Pokie and turn yourself around....oh sorry, I got
carried away again. But it was so regimented. You didn't have to think of
what to say cause the books (Missals) we had told us everything to say and
do. (I think that they were named Missals after the nuns. They could throw
one at you at 40 paces and get you dead on!) They let us know when to do
the standing and kneeling and it even told you when to hit your chest with
your fist and when the bells were going to ring and what to say back to the
priest when he talked to you and when to make the sign of the cross and it
even told you when it was time to leave. Absolutely no thought or passion
was ever required. One Sunday I remember a strong and really bad smell
coming from the row in front of us. It was the breath of the man sitting
next to the little boy who was sitting right in front of me. I remembered
the smell cause I smelled it every New Year's morning after my dad
"celebrated" too much the night before. His breath was awful the next day
and brushing his teeth never helped. As we sat there and the priest started
talking, the man's head started to bob and lull and then it went down on his
chest and stayed there. In a couple of minutes the guy actually started to
snore. I started to giggle. My aunt's head snapped toward me and before
she could deliver more "stars" the little boy in front of us yelled at the
top of his lungs..."Hey Mister....Wake up!" Everyone lost it and the
laughing just never seemed to stop. Everyone turned around and looked at
the guy who was totally stunned waking up to all that noise. Even the
priest laughed that day.

Now this sounds funny, but this will happen anytime and any where routine
sets in. Going to church should not be routine ever! The Bible tells us to
not fail to gather ourselves together for strength and edification. It also
tells us to raise a joyful noise unto the Lord. Read it for yourself.
Psalm 149:1-6, Psalm 49:13, Psalm 29: 1-2,9. And there are many more
references to worshiping the Lord in the Bible. If you can lose all dignity
at a football game, why is it so hard to dance and sing and worship before
our creator? Next time you go to church, give God all you have when you
worship Him. It is NOT disrespectful. He created you, He sustains you, He
sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die for your salvation. Now that is
something to really get crazy about. Have fun at church. You are singing
and praising your King. What I am trying to say is "Hey Mister...Wake
Up!!......Patti