Minister's Corner: Services enjoyable despite mistakes

I was interviewed by what Baptists call a “search committee” from my first full-time church after completing seminary. At a given point, a person made what I thought was an offhanded remark: “Six months after our new pastor comes, we will be running 175 in worship.”    
“That’s great!” I responded, not understanding this was not a common goal for our mutual achievement but a mandate required for his support.
Six months later, that member of the committee asked me to explain the problems in the church.
“Which problems are you asking about?
The inquisitor (let’s call him Ralph) responded, “The time when the choir stood for the anthem as you were about to make the announcements. And Sunday, when you said the benediction, but waited a long time before you said, ‘Amen!’”
“You know, Ralph,” I replied, “as you spoke of two problems in worship my mind went right to the two incidents you mentioned.”
“Aha!” Ralph retorted, “so you admit these are problems! This is why we aren’t having 175 people in worship and it has been six months! What if we have visitors and they never come back?”
I tried to discern how I really felt about people like Ralph leaving the church. And then I weighed in. “Ralph, before I met with you this morning, I checked and we are up from 130 to 156 in six months. I can’t say that trend will continue. However, I can say the increased attendance is really good.”
“What if people get sick and tired of your mistakes and leave our church and go somewhere else?”
I answered honestly, “Ralph, those kind of people need to watch the ‘Hour of Power’ on television, because at the Crystal Cathedral, they edit out their mistakes.” The next month Ralph and his family did leave the church.
Ten years later my family worshiped at the Crystal Cathedral. After the service, my wife asked me how I enjoyed it. “Great!” I said.
She asked, “How do you think Ralph would have liked it?” It was then that she reminded me of all the mistakes in the service.
• The fountain went off early and scared the person welcoming guests half to death.
• Two worship leaders stood at open microphones in the divided chancel, then simultaneously spoke, apologized to the other, and sat down.
• As the organist rose from the bench, he pressed down on the keyboard and all but blew out the windows of the building.
• And, finally, one of the servers of communion dropped a full tray of plastic cups filled with juice, or the “blood of Christ.” The clatter and splashing was followed by the gnashing of teeth, weeping and mopping.
I laughed and told my wife, “Ralph would have needed to leave this church also.” Of course, they had long ago reached far beyond 175 in attendance. Yet, not even in the Crystal Cathedral had they figured out how to reach perfection.