Sunday

Let me just say that I had a beautiful day on Sunday. So good, in fact, that it made me wonder what suffering I might have to endure this week to pay for it.

I'm joking. But if the Chiefs hadn't lost, and provided a necessary smudge on an otherwise perfect day, I would be serious.

This was the second week that we held our Merge worship gathering on Sunday morning. The first week was fine. Some people came, I had some wonderful help with the music side of things, and I was ok with it.

But this time was better. Even though I didn't have any help with the music (next week Skyler Smith and Joe Terry will join me) I just really enjoyed everything. Some people showed up in time for brunch... some people brought food who didn't have to... and we had a great time eating and shooting the breeze. Jason ran sound and powerpoint, and has committed to helping out with that every week. Matt & Andrea brought their whole freakin' extended family.

Two girls I knew from the South Haven youth group came and brought a college friend. Two girls that sang for Open Mic the night before came, and are interested in helping with music in the future. A guy we met at the Drury Activities Fair a few months back showed up. One college girl that was there the first week came back, and brought a friend. The wife and son of one of our former exhibiting artists came. Christina was there, Angela was there, Amanda was there, our neighbor three doors down came and brought his 5-year-old son. One family peered in the window and started to move on, until I came out and asked them if they were looking for the worship gathering. Once they were convinced that it wasn't all young people, they came in, and really enjoyed it.

Like I've said before, we don't count people. But I will probably look back on Sundays like this, and miss being able to list off all the people who came.

Since I didn't have any help with music, I just played four songs on the piano. I apologized several times for making it look like it was the Ryan Show, but nevertheless, I felt like God was doing it his way, and the environment seemed very worshipful. After that, we all grouped up with those around us to share our needs and concerns, etc, for prayer. Every group seemed to be chatting happily when it was time to move on.

So I put a stool down on the floor, near the front of the group, and shared what I knew about the first mention of Jesus in the Bible, what some call the "proto-evangelion". This is where Adam and Eve sin, and God curses the serpent, saying that Eve's offspring will crush his head. That "offspring" is Jesus.

When I asked for a volunteer to read Genesis 2:25, I gave everyone a warning. "You need to be comfortable with the "n" word if you want to read it," I said. Everyone kind of squirmed, and after a few tense moments someone read out loud, "The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame." The tension dissipated a bit, and I realized why. "There's the "n" word there... "naked". The other "n" word is not in the Bible, by the way. I've read the whole thing, and it's just not there, so you don't have to worry about that." That got a chuckle.

The rest of the talk was a combination of sharing and questioning, and several people were happy to put in their two cents. The main thing we discovered is that this is not our story, it's God's story. Jesus is the star of the New Testament AND the Old Testament. But in addition to that, he needs to be the star of our own stories. Most of us make ourselves the star, and think too highly of ourselves. Some make ourselves an extra, and think too lowly of ourselves. God has made us to be important supporting actors in this story. We are each vital, but we are not what it's all about. Jesus is.

Another thing I loved was the set-up. Some people sat in the rows at the front, others at cafe tables just behind that, and still others in couches along the side, or towards the back. I think it was quite comfy.

So that was the AM. But there's more! Later in the evening, Christina and I took a walk down Pickwick Street, an annual fall tradition for us, since Pickwick is a beautiful place to enjoy the fall foliage. When we were almost back to our car, we passed a little store called Incense and Peppermints, which is a cute hippie store that sells hippie stuff. It looked like it had been broken into, and the owner was inside looking very distraught. So we came over and asked her if we could do anything to help. She said no, but she proceeded to vent about everything that had been going wrong in her life... her dog had died, her friend had committed suicide, and now this.

We just listened, and eventually she invited us in for a beer. So we joined her inside as she scrounged up a few chairs to sit and talk. And she talked a lot... and we listened a lot, sipping on our Bud Lights.

This post is getting way to long to go on about our conversation with her, except to say that it was beautiful, for us, and apparently for her.

That's it. That was our day.

God is good.