It's Monday, and this is when we internet savvy pastors get all reflective about yesterday's gathering. Typically you will see words like "amazing!" or "incredible" tossed out pretty liberally. And there are times when those words definitely apply.
But if I can be blunt, there are other times when the worship was "okay."
I should remind everyone that we see what's going on from a very limited perspective. We know that if God's Word is proclaimed and Christ is lifted up, that there is spiritual value to what happened. But again, from the human point of view there are times when it just doesn't click.
Yesterday seemed to be one of those days. Challenges in the congregational music (although the "special" from Bethany and Kira was sweet), mediocre sermon, smaller crowd.
Meh.
And yet there was one moment I will remember the rest of my life.
It happened during the announcements.
Our Child2Child and Niara girls were telling the church about this month's effort - to provide clean water to kids who have none. They used a simple skit to illustrate. Each girl counted to 5. Three girls, 15 seconds. The point was that while they were counting out the fifteen seconds, a child died as a result of not having clean water.
Sarah Hickman was supposed to do the wrapup, explaining what the 15 seconds meant. She began well, and then as she read her information, it became real to her and she was overcome with grief. She left the stage in tears.
I will never forget seeing the Spirit of God work in Sarah's heart.
It was awesome.
Yes, it was. I could see it happening as the Holy Spirit took hold of her sweet gentle heart and rocked it to the point that she really got it - understood - what those short 15 seconds really meant. I pray that others got that message, too.
ReplyDelete