A day of joy

Up and off to worship. We attended the 10:45 service. Tom has said that there is little joy in the services and they are thinking of changing churches. He remembers a sermon I delivered at Stonebridge last summer where I emphasized the need for Christians to show the joy of their salvation. We went to lunch at Chilis and talked a bit about it. I noted that I thought the service that day was fine, as was the message. It presented law, Gospel and sanctification with some joy. It especially emphasized the joy that comes from serving Christ and drawing closer to Him. As it turns out, the message was brought by the associate pastor, not the senior one. The music was somewhat upbeat and contemporary. Much of the announcements were somewhat somber, however. When Tom and Stacy gave the announcements, they were presented in skits and other forms of light-hearted formats. I guess some people thought things should be totally somber in worship services, so they are not asked to make them anymore. I hope the church alters its approach. There was a ground breaking for a new educational wing after the service, and families drove stakes into the ground, outlining the new building. The families then joined in prayer for a blessing on the building. We went home, napped, played baseball (using a tennis ball) and then planned to go to a fund raiser for the swim team. Unfortunately, Tom had missed the date by just one day, so we came home and he prepared his superb pizza for our dinner. We ate it while watching a family movie called, Jacob's Harvest and then went to bed. It was later than the children usually stay up when school follows the next day. We went off to the "cold" motor home for sleep. Evelyn is nearly always cold when we are there. I don't turn on the furnace much because it runs the batteries down. Besides that is what blankets are for. Other bodies help too as Ecclesiastes tells us. :-)