Car Meets: The Church Service

A staple in automotive culture, the car meet is a simple yet powerful concept that can be found all over the world. A simple plan designed around bringing together car enthusiasts and their rides for some fun, the car meet is a great way for owners and fans alike to get up close and personal with the automotive community. Inspiring togetherness and fostering a greater appreciation for motoring, these events have taken off, and furthermore morphed into behemoths such as the Geneva Auto Show or America's NAIAS (North American International Auto Show). Every week, Christians participate in similar gatherings to commune and learn more about the life of Jesus Christ: Church.

Church is a divided biblical act. Some loathe it, others live for it, but as the Bible points out in Genesis 2:18, “it is not good for [man] to be alone.” This is conveniently alleviated through church, which using services, brings together God's people so that they may have community with one another. As Matthew writes in chapter 18, verse 20, "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them," and therefore church becomes a simple way of getting people together to experience the presence of God.

In church, as with a car meet, before the main event, there is a time of welcome. This can be in time allotted for members to talk, or time to pray with the pastor, but usually there is some kind of worship, for as Colossians 3:16 states, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

After this opening, comes the main event. In a car meet, once you arrive, you would pick your place to set up, park, and then either clean your vehicle, or leave and go look at the others, showcasing yours for the event. This, the showcase portion, is the main event and longest part of any car meet, and is alike to the sermon in a church.

Sermons, a teaching given by pastors, the leaders of a church, are showstoppers, and like car meets, can be loud, extravagant, and may even include a demonstration (think donuts/burnouts); all the while helping to showcase the word of God. The longest part of a Sunday service, the sermon aims to apply biblical concepts to guide churchgoers through the pitfalls of daily life and encourage them to pursue Jesus Christ during the week between services.

At the end of a sermon comes a short portion called the benediction. This is most alike to the exit portion of a car meet, where participants who showcased their vehicles get to revv, drift and speed away one final time as they leave the event. This 'last hurrah' serves to encourage and excite the remaining crowd, and seeks to leave them with one final impression, the exact same goals which are found in a benediction.

The pastor's benediction is meant to be God given encouragement over those who listen to it, and serves as a prayer for them over their lives. The benediction is meant to excite and leave listeners with one final impression of God in their lives from that teaching, and usually expresses a faith from the pastor to those in his pews for God's grace, power, and deliverance over them. All in all, the benediction serves as the final bit of gasoline to fill the believer's tank as they journey off into another week.