In some churches, it's always "business as usual."

I, for one, believe that needs to change.

The Bible tells us that we are not to quench the Spirit. I interpret that to mean we are to allow the Spirit of God to flow through our church gatherings and other such meetings. Trouble is, when we are choreographing each and every service, we sometimes fail to involve the Spirit. We put pen to paper and set up an order of service and then hope and pray that God shows up.

Occasionally, He does just that. And are we ever surprised.

God shows up and takes control of the service and we don't know how to handle it. We stammer and fumble and wonder what in the world is going on. "What could have gone wrong?" we think. "How did we lose control of the service?" we wonder. And we never acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, God came in unannounced and took control.

More often, though, we keep our thumbs on the ebb and flow of the service.

We make sure the folks are out of the pews by such-n-such a time so they can beat everyone else to the restaurants or get home before kickoff. We match our sermons with the calendar instead of listening to God about what to preach. We choose songs and scripture readings based on the season or the sermon or both.

We fall into a Sunday morning rut and have a hard time recognizing it as such -- which means we never see the need to change the way we do things.

Then God shows up, and His Spirit is almost visible in the room. The love and power and compassion of a Holy God throws a blanket over the congregation and before you know it, you've lost control. People weep. People pray. People stop and listen to see what God is going to say; they watch to see what He is going to do. They sit and wait, expectantly.

And when the service comes to an end, no one wants to leave. No one is in a hurry to get home to the pot roast or the television or to be the first in line at the restaurant. They mingle and they hug and they smile and the cry. And they learn to expect a visitation from God at any time.

Shouldn't we all be expecting such a visitation? Shouldn't we all be watching for God to show up at our gatherings? Shouldn't we be ready when He does?

Let's stop the pseudo-spiritual choreography and turn our gatherings over to the Spirit of God.

No telling what might happen.