You Irreplaceable, You...

Last weekend, a rarity occurred: I was a solo act.

Gerald had been suffering from a terrible cold/flu/nastiness over the whole week. Nothing super-serious, but enough to shut him down. As the weekend approached, we realized that he wouldn't be up for preparing for our two worship services at St. John's, much less actually playing and singing on Sunday.

As I took the reins of the services (musically speaking), I realized that Gerald left big shoes to fill in terms of his creativity, sound, and musical leadership. Our musicians stretched outside their comfort zones, revealed new talents, and showed an inspiring combination of creativity and teamwork. The results were wonderful. Different than it would have been with Gerald, but still wonderful.

As I watched all this happening, I was reminded of Paul's writings on spiritual gifts and the body of Christ. We all have a unique role to play. We are called to do something that's important. It may not always seem important to us, but clearly, if He's asked it of us, it's important to God.

When one of us doesn't show up, it matters.

Some days, like with illness, we can't physically show up, and that's okay. Maybe that's actually God's plan for the day.

But what I started thinking about was bigger, broader, than this:

What happens when we don't show up at all?

What happens when we choose not to believe in or follow God?
What happens when we don't bother to seek God's plan for our lives?
Or if we do find it, we don't choose to say "Yes"?
What happens when we start living our life in Christ, and then just check out of the whole process?
Can we ever truly understand the ripple effects of these decisions?

When you show up, it matters.

You are so important. 

So very, very important in the kingdom of God. 

God has a plan for you, and when you're not there, it matters... 

to other people, 

to the moment, 

to God's eternal plan...

In the immortal words of Ira Gershwin: 

"You irreplaceable, you..."