Some dates seem more 'catchy' than others. That was certainly true of 1984 because of the famous and sinister book with that as the title. 2000 was obviously highly significant as the start of a new Millennium, but 2020 marks a new decade and the number is itself associated with clear vision. Some Pastors must surely be preaching a 2020 vision in the early weeks of this year. But maybe it will turn out to be as routine as any other year.
One of the things that I feel is important to accept if we are Christian Believers is that there is a certain routine to church life. In the past I've heard some Sunday notices that seem to emphasise this. 'Our Sunday morning service next week will be, as usual, at 10.30 am.' I've always thought it unfortunate when put like that. Mind you there was one memorable occasion when I heard it put like this: 'After the meeting there will be a time for refreshments, as usual, and that will be halled in the hell downstairs.' That did at least create a small rise in anticipation!
In many ways routine is good. Every Sunday there is a service for worship and teaching that takes place in my local church at 10.00 am. When I go it's great to sing again with the congregation some songs that we may have sang a hundred times before. But the very familiarity gives us confidence to sing truth together and then sometimes God seems to 'come' on a particular song and what seemed to be routine suddenly becomes a moment when we touch heaven and glory. I know in my church that when it comes to the preach it is almost certain that I will hear something that inspires me, lifts my spirit, challenges me and feeds me. Ask me later in the week though what I heard preached last Sunday and I might struggle to give you much in the way of detail. But it's part of the routine of the Christian life. I've done a huge amount of teaching on preaching and one of the things I always talk about is whether sermons are remembered. Preachers who think they are need to attend a small group meeting which is discussing last Sunday's sermon - it's a very humbling experience! But one comment I make is that sitting under a consistent Biblical preaching ministry is rather like eating breakfast cereal. I have no memory of what I ate for breakfast on May 25th 2015, but I'm sure I had breakfast that day and although not remembered it made a contribution to keeping me alive and healthy. Sermons are like that, we may not remember them but they contribute to our health and growth as Christians. Recently, and not really for any particular reason I asked my wife if she remembered any sermon that I'd preached over the years - she's heard me preach hundreds of times. She responded by saying, 'Ah! it's the Weetabix effect.' Well I asked for that! So, again, listening to preaching is part of the routine for which I am grateful and although I may not remember the detail of the 3 points preached last Sunday I do remember occasions when I heard a sermon preached that had a profound effect on my life. (Some readers of this blog will recall a sermon preached by CJ Mahaney decades ago on the Holiness of God at a New Frontiers Bible Week).
Prayer Meetings are part of the routine, which is probably why we often don't see the attendance we hope for. Prayer Meetings can seem quite hard work and because we don't always see the immediate answers to prayer we'd like to see maintaining the routine can be quite demanding. Novelty is a good recruiter for Prayer Meetings. Start one at a new time on a different day and people will often turn up in good numbers. But maintaining that routine is the challenge. Making a change is in fact quite a positive thing to do from time to time. I remember in my years in Brighton that we regularly made changes to the prayer life of the church. Sometimes it was early on Saturday mornings, sometimes it was half nights of prayer, sometimes it was a season of prayer at the beginning of the year, sometimes it was Sunday evenings etc. What we discovered was that after a time that particular Prayer gathering seemed to run out of steam and we needed to make a change. That has its strengths because it enables the leadership team to exhort for a new prayer gathering and it opens up a Prayer Meeting to some people who for very genuine reasons couldn't attend the previous way it was organised. But I'd add this as one who has been in huge numbers of Prayer Meetings that sometimes they have been the best meetings I've ever attended. I've been in such meetings, when passion for God has suddenly ignited in a quite electrifying way, the Spirit moves in such a way that you couldn't even stop people praying out and there is a felt presence of God that's so intense you sense you are surrounded by glory. That doesn't happen every time, but sometimes it does and it's wonderful.
So, there may be much of the usual routine in 2020, and we don't need to feel negative about it, that's life. But I'm also aware that in Act 2:2 we read 'And suddenly there came from heaven....' There's nothing wrong with the routine but I'm still longing for a 'suddenly from heaven' and everything changes.
Even so, come Lord Jesus!