Church this morning was lovely. Our congregation council president was cantoring for the first service and he is a fabulous tenor. During Sunday School, I hung out with our Sunday School superintendent and helped her with her student. (Her student Q is a sweetie and it gave us a chance to get the VBS pictures up.) The second service was great. Our music was all patriotic today and it was probably the second time in 10 years that I’ve sung “Battle Hymn of the Republic”. <\/p>\n
Bill preached one of the best sermons I’ve heard this year on the dangerous eschatology of the Religious Right’s position on Israel. He royally irritated some of the Republican members and a couple of them confronted him after the service about some of his comments on the use of “Judeo-Christian-Islamic morality” (it’s part of an article in the Columbus Dispatch<\/a> which I can’t link because you have to pay to view it). The two people who did are part of one of the small groups I attend and it usually takes all of my self-control not to make snarky remarks to set them off foaming at the mouth. (I’ve mastered the art of doing so in a way that irritates them but makes me look completely innocent.) For example, I was commenting on something I disagreed with in the Bible Study curriculum and the wife turned to me and said “Don’t you believe the Bible is completely true?” (My answer: I tend to read it more critically than most people do.) It took all of my self-control not to say something like “Nope… I’m just here because my coven isn’t meeting tonight.” (Thank you to my wonderful mother-in-law and sister-in-law for that one.)<\/p>\n F and G were there with G’s son M, which was a good thing — one thing that happens on occasion with grieving people is that they stop attending church and cut themselves off from people. Granted, they left the second things ended; but that’s understandable — how do you socialize with people at church when you buried your husband\/father\/grandfather 6 days earlier and this person was a pillar of the congregation? (D did everything from lectoring to ushering and served multiple congregation council memberships in addition to being on the building committee 40 years ago for the education building at the church.) I was just really happy that they came. I’m hoping to see them next week at the outdoor service though I know that it may be a while before they feel up to socializing. If nothing else, this is an answer to the prayers I’ve been praying for them (for comfort and strength and to be able to lean on the Lord in this time) and I’m praising the Almighty for that!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Church this morning was lovely. Our congregation council president was cantoring for the first service and he is a fabulous tenor. During Sunday School, I hung out with our Sunday School superintendent and helped her with her student. (Her student … Continue reading