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Why Attendance is Important

As a pastor, I believe in the power of meetings. Call me naive, but I think stuff can still be accomplished at them. Plus, I have a fear of missing them. I worry about what will be discussed in meetings when I am not there.

This is not a simple junior-high fear of wondering what people are saying about me behind my back. No, like any long-term church members should know, I fear being volunteered for something I don't want to do. (Or as Jon Acuff calls it on Stuff Christians Like, being volun-told.)

Some people might call this an irrational fear. After all, you can just tell the committee later that their good idea will be great, just as long as someone else besides you has to carry it out. That works, right? Good luck carrying out that plan with a committe chair trained to get volunteers, willing or unwilling.

But I finally have Biblical proof that missing meetings is a bad idea, a very bad idea.

All the proof I need is found in Genesis 34. A young lad by the name of Shechem falls in love with Dinah, Jacob's daughter. Now, if you actually go and read the story, you're going to find some extra-curricular activity going on that is the subject of stuff not normally put in song, but I want to skip ahead.

Shechem falls in love and asks Jacob for his daughter's hand in marriage. Jacob seems ok with it, but Dinah's brothers have other plans. So they demand that Shechem and his whole town be circumcised.

Ok, first of all, this isn't like asking a guy if you can borrow $20. This gets very personal, very quickly. But Shechem seems to not even realize what circumcision is and he gets one quite hastily. (Genesis 34:19)

This is when the meeting happens. Shechem and his dad, Hamor, go and have a meeting with the leaders of the town. They explain that Shechem wants to marry Dinah and that Dinah's family will only allow the marriage if they all get circumcised. Convinced it's a good idea, they all agree.

WHAT!?!

Do they even know what a circumcision is? Was there an instruction manual? Did they see Shechem limping? Couldn't they just send gifts or money as a nice wedding gift?

I can't even begin to imagine hearing about the meeting afterward as every dude in town is called together for the wedding preparation. "Shechem wants us to do what?"

If I'm not at that meeting, I'm raising some objections. I believe I would instantly have a new resoluton to NEVER MISS A MEETING AGAIN.
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