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Monday, June 27, 2011

sunday!

Yesterday was a great day.  First and foremost, I was able to be in church services for the first time since last year.  I really like the little church Notah and Kerra go to.  The people are sincere and loving.  The pastor and his wife have a burden for the work.  The song service yesterday, rather than being the traditional hymns, consisted of remembering the songs of our childhood in Sunday School. They had to put the words to them on the screen up front because for lots of folks they were lost in time. Those ‘children’s songs’ carry a lot of meaning that we adults often disparage because they are only ‘children’s songs.’ 

 One that stuck with me--We sang ‘Happy in the Savior.’  Now there is a message.  And I haven’t sung it since probably Bible School at Rock Springs.  “Happy in the Savior.  Happy in the Savior.  Happy in the Savior, I am Happy in the Lord!”    Now that’s a chorus that lots of adults could begin to practice more regularly. 

Pastor Chad brought a good message on unity among the church.  Good one! Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.   Philippians 1:1-2 was his text.

He pointed out that we are all designated as ‘saints’ so that doesn’t make any one of us better than another and we are all servants of Jesus.   That means that no specific individual’s opinion is better than another’s and we must be humble enough to consider that in our dealings.  Pastor Chad pointed out that Paul prayed grace on each saint and through that we have grace to deal with one another kindly and with love.  The third thing we must remember is that he wished that there might be peace among God’s people.  What can we offer the world if we are quarrelling and fussing among ourselves?

I can’t remember all the texts he used but these two stuck with me.  (Now when a minister preaches, I sometimes have a concordance running through my head, so I don’t guarantee that both of these were ones he cited.  I know this first one was. I think the second one was.  My Bible was buried in my suitcase and I didn’t have anything to write with.  NEXT Sunday will be different. )

   I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  Ephesians 4:1-3 If we are following the Lord as we were called to-as saints of God, we will walk carefully so we are fulfilling the ‘vocation’ God has designed for us.  We will do it with (whew! Get this) ‘lowliness, meekness, longsuffering and forbearing one another in love.   That will keep us joined together in peace.  That is hard to find in a lot of congregations and between congregations.  That hits a little close to home.

Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;  Romans 12:9-10  He didn’t comment on it but I liked the concept of being ‘kindly affectioned.”  For me that means not necessarily living in one another’s pockets, but making an allowance for our brothers and sisters in the Lord with kind thoughts and an attitude of consideration in times when we are apart.   Sometimes it is ‘out of sight, out of mind’ among the fellowship of the saints.  If we are ‘kindly affectioned’ toward each other we will remember our family in the Lord from time to time with a prayerful thought or a happy smile. 

Now he did say, that we will allow the others to be before us and favor or permit or prefer their view over ours.

As I thought more on his message, it occurred to me that this wasn’t speaking of doctrinal things but the temporal things that occur in the business of the congregation—the decisions that must be made regarding property upkeep, maybe fellowship dinners or get-togethers that the family of God enjoys having.  I have seen more fussing over the color of the new carpet and the padding on the pews and the menu for the fellowship dinner that you can believe.  What difference does it really make if the carpet is brown or gray, or even if there is any carpet at all?  What difference does it make if there is a planned menu for the fellowship dinner or just a catch all carry in?  But that has all caused a lot of ungodly attitudes among the very people who should be ‘preferring one another.’

Yep I enjoyed my first day back in service!

After service was over Notah had a board meeting.  Keva wanted to go with her fried and ride a four-wheeler or a dirt bike or something.  Seth’s friend Zach had gone to church with us and Kerra needed to take him home.  So we all split up in different directions. 

Kerra drove us into Belen to see if the flea market there was still open.  I want a walking staff to use instead of a cane when I’m out side on uneven ground and she said she had seen a whole bunch there.  As it turned out it was so hot that everyone was going home early.  We stopped and got something to drink and I got some chicken sticks to tide me over till lunch/dinner.  We finally ended up at Wal-Mart, wandering around there until Notah’s meeting was over. 

It’s a good thing I don’t go to Wal-Mart very often!  I managed to spend 50-plus dollars in about 45 minutes.  Of course $25 of that was for books, but still.    Probably the thing that pleased me most was getting tennis balls for the feet on my walker.  (I still have to use it when my right knee is tired.)  On Kerra’s tile floor with all of NM’s sand it made a nasty scraping noise.  The tennis balls slip on over the walker legs and voila! No more scraping noise!

Then we went to dinner at Henrietta’s when Notah caught up with us.

Oh, my legs were tired when I got home.  And we had been driving around with the windows down so my skin and hair was covered with fine NM dust.  So I went straight in and took a quick shower; then I was down for the count.  Surprisingly after all that trekking around, my knees and feet weren’t swollen.

Before I quit, I have to say something about how good the New Mexico sun felt.  It was around 101 or maybe higher, but the heat just burnt into your skin and sank into your bones. Only common sense makes you come in out of it.  It felt so good. 

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