I happened upon a radio conversation this morning that startled me. Two people were working up a lather about the crowds at their churches yesterday. But not in the ways you might imagine…..or I guess I should say, I might imagine. The conversation was about how the 'regular' churchgoers were upset that 'all these people go to church on Easter' that don't show up other days of the year. They talked about having to sit in seats that weren't their normal seats. One even went so far as to say that if people can't go to church on the other Sundays of the year, they shouldn't show up on Easter. I would imagine these same folks would throw Christmas in there as well.

It was a fascinating perspective. While we church professionals are joyfully counting the attendance figures for such a Sunday, it is interesting that there are those that saw the bump in numbers as an inconvenience or even an annoyance.

From my perspective it also seems to fly in the face of what it means to be the church. In fact, at yesterday's pancake breakfast that followed our sunrise service, I spoke with three young adults who were guests. They told me they had attended Ash Wednesday services with us and had really like their experience. Always wanting to learn what draws people to a new worship setting, I asked what they had liked. The young man got a funny look on his face as he said: "Well, it was clear that the people there had known one another for maybe twenty years. But they all just seemed excited to be there."

I've thought about those words many times over the last hours. I know that people 'church shop' these days,searching for the place that fits their theology, their comfort zone, their musical tastes, their commute. Statistics prove that people jump from denomination and even faith traditions in ways that are new to institutions of faith. It tends to make church growth experts crazy and builds a certain anxiety within all mainline churches. Because of this transient behavior, most of us cannot imagine what the church will be like in even ten or twenty more years.

Over the next weeks we will read the scriptures of those followers of Jesus who struggle to remain faithful after his death and resurrection. In the Book of Acts as it is interpreted in Eugene Peterson's The Message, it says:" They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful,as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. And many were added top their number."

On this Easter Monday, after the hoopla of yesterday has been put to rest, and we head into another 'normal' week of life in the church, I am glad that, at for at least a couple of Sundays out of the year, people who might not be motivated or inclined, show up. It is my prayer that they found our discipline of worship exuberant and joyful and that they glimpsed the face of God in it all. It is also my hope that if they came back again in, say twenty years- or next week, they would find the pews filled with people who still liked being here.

It may be alot to ask. But I believe we have some great role models.