What a difference an hour makes???

Well this is the third week of our experimental liquid worship where we start at 10am with half an hour which includes songs, a theme time, prayer and then an opportunity to choose what to participate in from a reflective exercise, a creative activity or contributing to a conversation about the theme. Then at 10:30am it is refreshments until 10:45am when we gather afresh for a further time of worship and a talk. So what are my thoughts thus far? Well if I am honest I think I have been shocked by some and encouraged by others! The shock is the response of some at starting worship at 10am! Is it really that early? Most manage to get to work for 9am, some even make it earlier than that! So why do we find it so difficult to get along to our gathering time? I wonder if it is something to do with our mindset- we want church to fit in with our lives and Sunday is after all our only day for a long lie!!! A couple of thoughts about this-

1. It is interesting that as Christians we want church to fit with our lives, I wonder if we are willing to give any thought to how church could fit into the lives of many people who are de-churched and unchurched? 11am doesn't really fit for many outside of the church, given the dominance of Sunday League football, leisure activities, children staying over with their dad...Surely as a missional church we need to be willing to accept the possibility of changing the time of our service!
2. Jesus seemed to think getting up early for prayer was no bad idea- I guess early wasn't a 10am start!

I think we maybe need to ask ourselves honestly what it is that motivates us when it comes to worship- Is our God not worth getting up for? Is our God not worthy of making the effort for? Is our God someone who has a do not disturb sign up on his door on a sunday morning before 11am? If we find a change of time too much, I guess we are going to find some of thefurther changes that are needed to take place beyond comprehension!

Sorry if this is a grumpy blog