A second visit....

We had planned to go back to Northbrook  this morning, but Shalom had asked to go to Fellowship earlier in the week and when I told her we were not going to Fellowship she gave me the sad face. Since I can't resist Shalom's sad face and since she will be on a Girl Scout backpacking trip next Sunday, I asked Bobby if we could change our plans and he agreed. All I have to do is say "Shalom made the sad face" and he'll do whatever. We're such pushovers.

The kids were so excited when we pulled into the parking lot that they ran ahead to the classrooms where they belong. By the time I got into the children's building they were already upstairs. I could tell by the reaction of the lady at the registration that we had done it wrong. Oops. We got the kids all straightened out and correctly registered and so forth and went on to the service.

(At our last church our kids would generally go join their friends while either Bobby or I stood in the registration line. They expect every church to function like the church they've grown up in! But every church has it's own way of handling registration. I have to get those kids to curb their enthusiasm!)

We ended up in the same row as some friends from our former church. I had known they were attending Fellowship, but they were more than a little surprised to see us somewhere other than our former church!! We got caught up with one another a bit and they expressed how much they like Fellowship. The wife shared that she just wished she could be more comfortable lifting her hands in worship and I told her that I understand that feeling and I am finally learning to just close my eyes and worship freely and not concern myself with what others thought. She agreed that perhaps closing her eyes would be the way to go.  Fellowship is obviously open to expressive worship and there are people here and there that are expressive, but mostly it is pretty sedate from what I've seen in our two visits. And that is fine, different churches have different styles. But today the music was so awesome and the Spirit was so present that I simply had to close my eyes and worship freely. I hope nobody thought I was a crazy woman.

The sermon was the last in a series about love and marriage. I can see that the pastor is full of surprises. Last time we visited he had a big white board at the front. Today he had a tall table and two chairs. He brought an elderly gentleman up and interviewed him about his 61 year marriage. It was just beautiful. After this awesome testimony he launched into his sermon on enduring love, drawing mostly from 1st Corinthians chapter 13. It was a comforting and squirm-inducing sermon at the same time. He told us to substitute "Jesus" for love; Jesus in patient, Jesus is kind, Jesus does not envy, Jesus does not boast, Jesus is not proud, Jesus is not rude, Jesus is not self-seeking, Jesus is not easily angered, Jesus keeps no record of wrongs. Then he asked us if we could substitute our own name for love. Then he asked us if our spouse could substitute our name for love. *Squirm*.

Before and after the sermon there was talk about an upcoming day called Sharefest, providing service opportunities at six different sites; both non-profits and local schools. I like a church that is deeply involved in the community.

I have to tell something about Fellowship. Back before it was formed we were part of the meetings in the home of one of the pastors. We planned to leave the church we were members of at that time to be part of the founding of Fellowship. The very week that we were all to meet the man who is now the directional pastor, we lost courage and decided to stay at our church. It was established and safe and our family was going through some hard times and we just felt too afraid to plunge into something new. I have had 8 years to wonder if we missed God's leading at that time. I suspect we did. I do not want to miss it again. Whether it is here, or at another church, I want to get this right.