Marty and I have begun a little adventure. We’ve taken to visiting other
neighborhood churches – once every 6 weeks or so. Why? Because we’ve
a desire to discover how our neighbors are worshipping, to see what we can
learn from those of like faith, to develop a better connection with others in
our community, and, paraphrasing my husband - to get a look at the faces of the
other believers with whom we will spend eternity.
The theme for the day seemed to be light – sunlight pouring
in the gorgeous old stained glass windows, a Sunday school lesson from John 1
on the Light of the world and excerpts from Ephesians on being the children of
the Light, the minister’s prayer on the beauty and reality of Christ’s light,
and the reminder of the hope of His coming in the lighting of the Advent
candles.
The message for the day encompassed a short skit and
concluding comments by the pastor.
It was called “The Bethlehem Shepherds” – a dialogue between two
shepherds – an old man recounting the story to his grandson of the night 30
years before when angels came to announce the birth of the Savior. He told his grandson of the wonder he
experienced and then began to trace the themes of shepherds and lambs through
the Scriptures – of Abram who was called to sacrifice his “lamb;” of David, a
shepherd of Bethlehem, who cared for a flock of sheep and later a flock of
people; and lastly, the importance of the lambs of the Passover.
The pastor concluded the message by reminding us of the
significance of the rest of the story – that Christmas means nothing without
the events of Easter. By way of
illustration he shared a tradition his boyhood church practiced in
Pittsburgh. Each year, the people
of the church bought a fresh and beautiful Christmas tree and dressed it for
Advent. After Christmastime, they
stripped the tree of its decorations and discarded it – all but two branches of
the tree. Those two braches were
fashioned together to form a cross and put away. During Lent that cross was brought out and displayed as a
poignant reminder that Christ’s birth and death were intrinsically linked. What a precious reminder that our
Savior was, indeed, born to die.
We appreciated our time of worship with others of like faith
and look forward to our continuing adventure. In the meantime, there’s no place like home . . .
P.S. – A few “housekeeping” ideas we noticed:
- One of the announcements was a reminder that any Sunday in
which there are fresh cut flowers in altar vases you are welcome to take them
after services to “gift” others.
Whether to share them with someone who is ill or as a way to encourage
and/or witness to someone, you were directed to see the individual that would
give you a tin can for that very purpose.
- As first-time visitors we were encouraged to pick up a
free book as we left the sanctuary.
We were given a copy of The
Purpose of Christmas by Rick Warren.
Whether this is a through-the-year practice, I don’t know - but what a
great idea to get various great books into the hands of others!
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