Getting Ready for Easter Weekend

I will blog later this week about the spiritual preparation for Easter and how are hearts need to be ready for what God will do in our lives.  This post, however, is a little more pragamatic if you will and directed almost exclusively to Fellowship Cabotians.  If you find yourself reading this and you don’t go to Fellowship Cabot, there are some principles here that you could draw upon.

1) Go on mission by when you go to church.  We are having four services this weekend.  Saturday night at 5:30.  Sunday morning at 8, 9:30 and 11.  Lots of people who don’t go to church anywhere and are far from God will come to church this weekend.  Try to remember back to a time when you visited a church for the first time.  Do you remember how nervous you were?  Often people can feel nervous and overwhelmed.  We want to make sure that we have room for them and their families.  You can help do that by going to a service where a visitor would not

2) Park as far away from the front door as you possibly can.  For us, this is in the back of the building.  Do not block access to the playground, but park in the gravel in the back.  You can block me in if you would like.  I will most likely be there later than you.  This is especially necessary for those that get there early and those that will be there for multiple services.  When someone drives into the parking lot, even if the spots designated for visitors are full, we want them to find a spot that is easy for them and their family.  Besides the extra walking will allow you to eat a little bit more for Easter lunch.

3)  Serve in a service where you are not attending.  It is not too late.  It never is.  You could walk up that morning and say, “Hey can I help anywhere?”  I promise you that you will not here, “nah, go home.”  It takes a lot of people serving in a lot of different ministries to pull off the worship service, especially on Easter Sunday.  Your church needs you.

4) Say hello and introduce yourself to people that you do not know.  Second only, maybe, to taking good care of children, friendly people is the primary way that new people evaluate churches.  You may think that it is awkward sometimes.  It may be awkward sometimes.  However, people will always walk away encouraged when someone from a church they are visiting goes out of there way to introduce themselves and make the visitor feel welcomed.

5) Invite someone.  Let me say that again.  Invite someone.  People who almost never go to church will come on Easter Sunday.  How about they come with you?  Who wouldn’t rather go to a church with someone they know?  What is the worst case scenario if you invite someone?  “I hate you.  How dare you take enough interest in me personally to ask me to come to your church.  We are no longer friends.”  Not likely.  The likely worst case:  “Thank you,” and then they don’t come.

Easter Sunday is the biggest weekend of the year for most churches.  More than that, though, this will be the biggest day in the lives of some people.  Because this Sunday will be the day that for the first time they hear and receive the Easter message of life and salvation.  You can make that happen.