A Sunday with no absentees

There’s a story about a church in east Texas that supposedly had some producing oil wells on the church property. The wells were a lucrative source of income for that congregation.

On the Sunday the income from the wells was distributed among the members of the congregation, there was always 100 percent attendance. The rule was that if a member was not present that day, he or she lost his or her part of the revenue.

Don’t you guess that even Aunt Sally, whose “folks made her go to church when she was a child, and now doesn’t have to go,” was there on time? Don’t you imagine that Uncle Fred, who has had arthritis so bad that he couldn’t make it to worship for years, suddenly got much better? How about those folks who just had to go some place to visit a friend or relative? Would they have put that off if it happened to interfere with their presence at the service when money was doled out?

Is the story fact or fiction? It doesn’t matter. If is is true, it shows where people have their vested interests. If it is not, it surely teaches us a big lesson.

Christians who, through pure carelessness or indifference, miss the worship with the saints, lose something of far greater value than money. They begin a course of carelessness that endangers their souls. A local church also loses.

What will a man give in exchange for his soul?

We won’t be giving out dividends in cash for attendance but we will provide the opportunity for sincere worshipers to show their love and adoration of God. Hope to see you at all services.

~ from www.vscoc.org/Bulletinfdr/bulletin_fodder.htm