Good Friday morning Church Requel!
This morning I want to talk to you about our community! Isn’t it rich? This week we are in Mansfield, San Francisco, Louisa, Budleigh Salterton Devon, Pike Road, and Mason. We are many places, but one body of Christ. And I love our community. As I think about all of you I think back to Paul’s earlier message to another community:
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” Colossians 3:16
Now - when I think of what makes for a great church - I don’t think of its size or its finances or its staff or even it’s ministries. I think of its community. I think of the message of Christ dwelling in the midst of this community RICHLY! Everything else follows: the teaching, the admonishing, the wisdom, the psalms, hymn and songs… the singing, the gratitude in hearts - all this flows from the message of Christ in our community.
Community is no longer about a place. Perhaps it never was. Maybe “place” has always been more a function of technology than location. Certainly the places possible prior to the automobile and modern roads were much more limited before the revolution in transportation technology. Yet the people of Christ found community where they could.
Now with the modern developments of the internet technology, why can we not see similar changes in how we find communities where the message of Christ dwells? This is more than just waxing philosophically or poetically. This connection we have to one another is limited only by the strength of our internet connections to one another. It doesn’t matter where we are.
It doesn’t even matter when we are. I’ve been impressed as the California girl gets up early for practice before the worship begins (6am her time) as I’ve been impressed with the British girl almost always being the first to log in each Sunday (5pm her time).
I love it that even our dear friends in Mansfield no longer have to miss a single second of worship time, even if they are confined to their houses, or their rooms, or their beds.
And as impressive as all those different “whens” of the live worship occur in our many time zones, our data tells us that many many more watch throughout the week at times of their own choosing. Who could have known?
We continue to think outside the box about the reach of this worship technology. This thinking takes us into surprising places… places like our nursery rooms downstairs at the church. We don’t have babies (at this time) like we used to, but we have families with children younger than 4th grade. What if we changed the label from “Nursery” to “Family Room” where one side would have comfortable sitting furniture for adults to watch the worship service going on upstairs and also streaming downstairs, while the other side of the family room was a place where the youngsters too young for our student ministry could play and not have to be hushed by their parents?
Our worship service could be streamed not only across the Atlantic but also down the bottom of the stairs! Right now this is just a theoretical possibility, but I have a strong suspicion this will soon become reality.
Speaking of our children… I am also loving how quickly our student ministry has grown in just the first two weeks. Dave Repp, who has been praying regularly for years for this development walked downstairs to snap this photo of our newest staff member, Eddie Walker, teaching the 15 or so students who showed up for the Sequels last Sunday. Wow! What a blessing! Way to go Eddie! Let’s follow Dave Repp’s example and keep praying for God to add new families to our community!
Here are the songs we plan to sing this Sunday: “Run To the Father” by Cody Carnes; “What A Beautiful Name / Tremble” by Hillsong / Mosaic and mashed together by Brandi; “Lord I Need You” by Matt Maher; “Praise You In The Storm” by Casting Crowns; and “Praise Your Name” by Corey Voss. Thank you Brandi for all the work you do in making our worship experiences so wonderful!
We also continue to have our online community participate in our weekly worship experiences. This week Cheryl Buckley will share our announcements. She will bring us all up to date on the neighborhood meals, food pantry, and opportunities with our new student ministry. She will also talk to us about the Facebook Prayer Chain Group where Cheryl updates our prayer requests and praises on a weekly basis. I love her positive reminders to us along the way. Thanks Cheryl!
If you would like to watch the Sunday worship service on YouTube, here is the link. https://youtu.be/Km-JIyyBFRQ
The Christian life is good these days in the Requel Church! Yes! Amen! Blessed! And thank You! - Pastor Mark
