4-28-2008
April 28, 2008 by decaturfbc
I thought today’s service was pretty cool.
Granted, it took a few moments for some folks to get over the anxiety that came when there weren’t bulletins being passed out before the service. The necessity of bulletins has always confused me a little. In a lot of ways, it seems like a waste of paper, and yet, panic sets in if we don’t have them.
The service began with Mike’s “good news” prelude. As it ended, several “newsies” came down the aisles passing out “The Decatur Sun,” the bulletin dressed up like a newspaper. The call to worship focused on the life of the newsies, a group of young people who made their living in bigger cities by selling newspapers. Their profit depended on the selling of their newspapers, so creativity was a must as they barked out the news, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it.” The thrust of the call to worship was that we have good news to share.
From there, the service unfolded.
The choir number was wonderful.
The bell choir piece was great. They will now take a break through the summer. I have appreciated their hard work throughout the year. Thank you bell choir.
Praise team lead us in a sweet time of worship. We had them on the floor again this week. I still can’t decide if I prefer them up or down (when they are up, they are more visible but further away from the congregation).
The children’s message was worth a second listen. We are called to be samples of Jesus. That message is not just for the kiddos, but for all of us. How can you be a sample of Jesus to the people you encounter every day?
The message of the morning “Don’t believe your own press clippings?”, was intended to remind us of one simple fact- Jesus is Lord. Everything that we have going for us, all of our churchiness, all the accolades that we hear, don’t change the fact that He is Lord and we are servants. I thought it connected. What did you think?
Let me know what you thought of the day. And feel free to give a critique of the articles in the “Decatur Sun.” Be sure to post a comment.
Steve
Oh, by the way, communion is this coming Sunday and will happen early in worship. If you are a late arriver, you might want to be aware of that.
I love coming into the sanctuary on Sunday mornings. You just never know what you will have up your sleeve. It took me a little while to relax when I saw there was not a bulletin. Habit I guess, but I also depend on it to know where to be, bells for example. I loved reading the “newspaper”. We may need to explain to those who read, say for example the Enquire, and believe everything in print is true, it was in fun. Or was it…..
Pastor Steve,
I love your creativity in presenting the morning
message. You meet us where we are and take us where you want us to go in a fun and receptive
manner.
“Xtra, Xtra, Read all about it !” truly was a cry heard in many cities. I’m not a newspaper reader. Years ago I found it very depressing. We lived in Chicago and the paper was fulll of murders, kidnapings, rape and other sorded things. I nearlly became sick with fear for the safety of my five little children. My solution was to NOT READ THE PAPER..
Last week The key note speaker at the state convention of Church Women United said there were two things we should read every day. The Bible and the Newspaper.
The theme of the conventions was “Vessels for the Lord, Wake up, Stand Up and Speak Up !” She said “In order to be active, productive working “Vessels for the Lord, first , we had to be filled with his word, and second, in order to meet the needs of a sinful world we should be aware of what is going on in THAT world.
I found it interesting that an emphasis was placed on the importance of reading the “newspaper coming at me from two completely different sources.
It is true that you used the newspaper as a tool for expressing the iimportance of getting the news out about Jesus Christ, his mercy and grace.
But the emphasis placed on knowing what is going on inthe world from reading the paper coming from two diffferent sources spoke to me.
I’m going to try to be more cognizant of the world around me in the future.
I thought the news paper articles in the Decatur Sun, (or what ever) were pretty worrisome. Especially those about our new minister. I found them hard to believe, but they were written in black and white. They must be true.