Today was our last day in our Home Church until sometime in September . IT
was an amazing day ! Lori and I " greet " people at our Church the first Sunday
of each month . Lori and I had made up little postcards that had our
information on it so our friends could keep in touch as we are gone . I was able
to hand out quite a few , as people came to the First Service . Hugs ,
handshakes , well wishes were the norm of the day . Lori is stationed at the
Welcome desk and I am sure her morning was very similar . Wen we are greeting we
usually stay at our posts until fifteen minutes into the Church service , I
slipped away just a few minutes early so I could get some last minute photos of
the Worship Team . The Morning service crowd is usually a little light , but
there were plenty of voices uplifted in song and the Dance Ministry was on the
floor , This was familiar ground to me .
Lori had saved our seats and I had just taken a few photos when she joined
me . IN a few minutes the Lord began to shake up the familiar . I began to have
very selective hearing . Ad we entered into a Song called the Stand . Suddenly
the room went dim and ll I could hear was the sweet beautiful voice of my wife .
Lori has an amazing voice . We have been in new church's and within moments
people are straining to hear her voice above the Church Choir . Once the Pastor
of the Church sat besides us and asked if Lori could do an on the spot Hymn for
the Church , and she obliged . But here it was as if all the other singers were
muted and all I could hear was Loris sweet voice ...Then in the distance as
other voices including Loris were muted I could hear the Voice of Pastor
Ronnie Then there comes a moment in the song when the Dancers walk up the
aisles , singing in Declaration " I'll stand With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the one who gave it all. I'll stand My soul Lord to you surrendered
All I am is yours" And suddenly the only voice I could hear was that of our dear
friend Tina who had walked up the stairs as part of the dance group and was a
few feet above me and to my right . Then I heard her , Tina has a sweet and
gentle voice , but she was past sweet and gently He voice cracked as she poured
everything in her into the Song ,,,So was singing with abandoned and passion ,
with full surrender Her arms High and her spirit higher ...
Through the last
worship Song I keep finding myself focused on one or in one case two people ,
either Singing or dancing to the right of me to the left of me I was of me I
was seeing our Church family as individuals brought as individuals to the party
...
We moved into the regular flow of our Worship Service , into our offerings
which for us is a part of worship , then into Communion . Pastor Barbie took
the pulpit , but before she began her sermon she surprised Lori and I by
announcing to the congregation that Lori and I were leaving for a season and she
exhorted the Church to pray over us . Friends gatehred near , and the rest of
the Body stretched out its hands ot us . Pastor ronnie walked up in fron tof us
and said Iam going to pray He doesn't let you go with a fmailiar twinlle in his
eye , and then for several minutes the entire Church body prayed of us and then
though ccasionaly aI could hear Pastor Barbies voice abve the tumult , what I
Mostly heard was the commorting sound of Prayer , as powerful as the crashing
surf . Then Pastor Barbie brought an eloquent message of what it meant to
surrender to God . Contrasting Surrender with Submssion in a way that I
understood all too easily . As she spoke of a path bordering a rushing river ,
with the path being Submission and the river being surrender I remembered a
time in my youth when my Friend Lee and I were floating down the Clakamas river
in Inner tubes on a un remarkable summer day in Oregon. We had floated through a
particular enthusiastic stretch of water and decided it would be fun to swim
through it with out the Inner tubes . We left the tubes on a rocky shelf and
hiked back t the head of the rapids , Lee went first and I could see the current
pushing and shoving him sometime His head visible then swallowed by the water
..then I Saw him glide into the rocky shelf where our tubes were resting. Not to
be outdone I dove further into the water deeper into the current and allowed it
to take me fully in its decent . The river had me and I did not want to let
go I was bounced and thrown , Swimming was more like bobbing . and soon I
found myself under water bouncing on the bottom I came up startled and
frightened , I was in a whirlpool near the end of run . I flailed wildly trying
to escape the river , Then above the roar of the water as if the waves had been
muted I heard Lee Yell " relax " " take it easy " and I stopped my strokes and
the river floated me free . At that last moment i knew I had lost the river had
won but I was stubbornly still trying to do my thing ...but by surrendering to
the flow I became a part of the river whose natural inclination was to flow
downstream and past the rocky ledge . A few weeks later in revisiting the scene
I made the discovery that the place I had almost drown was less than 4 feet deep
. I could have even put my feet down ..and touched the bottom , but in my
stubbornness I had simply failed to surrender . All this Barbie's Sermon Brought
back to me.
The sermon ended ..with Pastors Barbie's blessing . Lori and I returned to
our Greeting station. Again I was able to leave early as another Church brother
had unexpectedly arrived to help greet so I spent he time between series
handing out a few more cards , saying a few more goodbyes . Lori and I decided
to stay for the Sermon again ...This time we paused for three Baptism . Our
Youth group had returned from a retreat and there was a vibe in the house . We
have been having a lot of baptism lately our church is really growing and our
Youth in many ways are leading us . My good friend Jim's Daughter was baptized
this morning , another youth as well , and in a few minutes one more ...a
special story ..He was the youngest of an entire family at our Church who has
come to Christ over the past few months ,,and then it struck me as I grabbed a
shot of the Entire body , arms outstretched , involved and invested in all of
these Baptism ..we entered the faith as individuals , god collected our
individual talents , voices and personalities and placed them in Family with
a body of believers . With the Body we have our differences and our own
identity but the greater identity is the Bride , the Church of Christ .
As we closed the second Service Pastor Barbie exhorted those who felt that they would like to come forward and place their submission their , Surrender at the alter to come She asked that the Eldersa and Leaders of the Church come out and pray for them and hold them up in prayer , I saw a couple who I know are going tohrough stuff adn felt led to stand with them and as we were standing ther the Congregratin once again singing the Chourse from I':: Stand again I heard the voice of Pastor Ronnie a rich baritone reaching out , and then like before his voice faded I heard another voice another Baritone byt different and looke around to see Alan singing a powerful anthem of praise , and then again all the voices were united . Ultimately the day ended as it began Lori and I leaving as one flesh ..Leaving
family for a season ..but knowing we are covered by prayers and love we are so
blessed to be a part of something so amazing ...
we are Family !
No comments:
Post a Comment