At our monthly evening service last night we canceled the sermon. We’ve been on a journey together, studying the Lord’s prayer, and many of our regular attenders were not able to join us because they were out filling sandbags in anticipation of rising flood waters. It just didn’t feel right to continue on without them, so we canceled the sermon and decided to worship by simply singing praises to our King and sharing in Communion. As we closed, one lady asked if she could come forward and share a little about what God has been doing in her life - an hour later nearly everyone in attendance had shared a story of faith, a personal concern, about a time struggle and doubt, or an experience with healing and regeneration. It was amazing and completely unplanned (by us, that is).
Our worship leader, David Bush, closed with a thought and a prayer, saying that those on the outside of the church often think they have to get their lives together before they can come into the church; or they think that those inside the church are a bunch of hypocrites for not living perfect lives. He wished that those on the outside could have experienced what we shared last night, because what they would have witnessed were a bunch of broken and messy people who have realized that they are nothing but lost and hopeless sinners without Christ.
On the drive home I was in awe of God’s love and His amazing grace. I pray that, as a church and as individual Christian Strivers, we start canceling our own plans more often, because they don’t even come close to what He has planned for us.
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