It’s Story Time!. Got this from pastor Bruxy Cavey.
Bob & Sue where a few years into marriage when they experienced lack of romance. Their marriage was a steady diet of predictable rituals and routines, stable, back lacking passion. Bob decided to take more initiative to rekindle their first love. Tuesday evening the doorbell rang. Sue went to the door to find their babysitter. She was surprised as she learned that Bob booked her. More surprise came when Bob told Sue to put on whatever she would enjoy wearing out on the town. Romance was returning! A few minutes later, Sue in a beautiful red dress, drove together with Bob to a fancy little Italian restaurant. The table was ready, and the manager was waiting at the candle-lit charming corner at the quiet back. Sue noted a card with her name on it. She opened it up to find a handwritten note from Bob. As the evening progressed, Bob & Sue enjoyed meaningful conversation. During the desert time Bob pulled from under the table her favourite flower – a single blue rose. This last detail moved Sue to tears. “The most wonderful week of their married life!” Bob was feeling “how can I make it last?”
The next Tuesday, at exactly same 6:30 pm the babysitter was at the door. Sue was even more surprised: “two weeks in the row! I could get used to this!”
She did not think it was a bit odd when Bob encouraged her to put on the same red dress from the previous week. As they pulled into the same parking lot of the same Italian restaurant she thought that Bob might not get full marks for creativity this time. But her delight turned to disappointment when she found the card with the same words on the inside. It felt weird when Bob ordered the same menu, and manipulated their conversation to cover same territory as the week before. The evening was going from weird to feeling suffocating. She wanted out, but she wanted to give Bob every benefit of the doubt. Perhaps the joke would soon end. But when he pulled the similar blue rose during the desert, her tears welled up for a different reason. That week was cordial, but mildly distant.
Next Tuesday evening the story repeated again. And the week later, and so forth. Today, if you were to ask Bob how his marriage is doing he would smile with a sense of accomplishment and say “I romance my wife religiously!” He may even encourage you to follow his formula, his system for a healthy marriage. But if you would ask Sue – she’d tell you she feels trapped, imprisoned in a loveless relationship by someone who means well, but does not have a sweet clue what relationship is all about…
And I am wondering if this is how God feels sometimes at our weekly worship…
Do not mistake a form for substance, a religion for relationship!
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