It was the last two minutes of the Super Bowl. The New England Patriots were up by four, but Seattle had the ball with plenty of time to score.
"That's pretty cool," we said. A church so up with the times they would recognize that folks attending the 7 p.m. service were all probably watching the game on their phones anyway.
Seattle drove the ball toward the end zone. It looked hopeless for New England. But then, on the 2, with time still on the clock, Seattle threw an interception.
It was precisely 7 p.m.
And at precisely 7 p.m. our worship pastor Lincoln Brewster took center stage. "Who wants to watch the last few minutes of the game?" he asked and was rewarded with lots of applause. And then he asked, "Who wants to worship God?"
You could feel the energy in the room shift as hundreds of us recognized what he was asking.
"We're here to worship God!" he shouted and the screens immediately went from football players fighting in the end zone to the words of our worship song.
I knew immediately that Lincoln was telling us there is nothing more important than serving God.
Not even Seattle down by 4 with the ball on the 2. Not even finding out whether or not the guy playing "hot potato" with the ball had actually caught it or not. Not even waiting to see what the refs were going to do about the end zone brawl.
We weren't here to see who got the trophy. We were here to worship God. And if turning off the TVs made one angry or had us immediately pulling out our phones instead of raising our hands in praise, then maybe it was time to ask, Where are our hearts? What has our attention? Who are we here to serve?
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