Hunting Eggs and Helping Out

The kids and I spent our morning at the church helping with the annual Easter Egg Hunt. At our church, the actual hunt makes up only a small fraction of the morning's activities, though. There are outdoor games, then crafts, then "story time," where the Gospel is shared. After all of that, there is the Easter Egg hunt. The Egg hunt lasts for about 1 minute. Picture about 150 children, all divided by age for safety reasons, barrelling through a field, grabbing brightly colored plastic orbs as though they were made of gold. Their enthusiasm amazes me every year! Once that is over, our church provides a hot dog lunch for everyone. We all sit around on the grass, enjoying a lovely picnic, visiting with old friends and making new ones. It's great!

For the first time in many years, I was not assigned a specific job today. Free as a bird, I flitted from one "station" to another for at least 20 minutes before the event coordinator spotted me.

"Suzanne, Do you have a job?"

"No," I reluctantly replied.

"Then, could you help with crafts? They need some more adults."

And I sighed.

Big mistake. This poor woman is trying her best to make sure every child is cared for and appreciated and I sigh like she's asking me to clean my room and I'm 10 years old. Shame on me. Now she feels like she's imposing on me and is a bit embarrassed for asking me to help. That's when I became embarrassed.

We are a part of one body in Christ. My local body is my local church. In order for the body to run the way it is designed to run, each part of the body needs to be in proper working order, just like in our own physical bodies. As the scripture says in Romans 12:4-5, we form one body and each member belongs to all the others. If the body wants to walk from point A to point B and the left foot decides not to participate, it will be almost impossible for the body to get to point B. Do we want to hinder the ability of our local body of believers to move forward? If we are dragging our feet and not getting involved, that is precisely what we're doing.

As that old saying does, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

I, for one, do not want to face God one day and have him ask me, "Why didn't you help your Christian family? Why weren't you willing to be a part of the work I wanted you to do?"

Ouch. No, thanks. Those are not questions I want to answer. So, I got a name tag, helped with crafts, then helped with other stuff as I was needed. I had a great time and am so glad I stepped in and served in the capacity my church body needed.

What are you doing to help your church body move forward? If you can't think of anything, start praying and keep your eyes and ears open at church tomorrow morning. They may need help in the nursery; they may need extra people to help greet visitors; maybe they need help bringing chairs into the sanctuary. Don't just sit in that pew or chair staring at everyone else who is scurrying to make everyone comfortable. Be part of the solution!