A Weekly God?
Looking at my friends list, an ironic term where the Christianity community is concerned, because I only keep it there to see whether the few remaining Christians in it get driven out or drive out the bigots, I saw this:
How great is tomorrow gonna be?
"Tomorrow?" I thought, "What's happening tomorrow?" Pastorlenny's tomorrow is, of course, my today. Sunday, 25th January. I felt ever so ignorant not knowing what feast day this is.
I read on:
Anyone else excited about fellowshipping with the saints, worshipping Almighty God, hearing a life-giving word, and receiving the Lord's Supper?
Wow! Must be a big festival, whatever it is. The saints are coming!
Then I remembered that his lot have Communion every week and I realised he's just talking about church and suddenly I noticed the middle bit.
worshipping Almighty God, hearing a life-giving word
The "life-giving word" bit sounds desperate, and is. If you live by the book, you must be always half-starved. The part that shocked me, though, was "worshipping Almighty God."
Once a week?
Only in church?
Once a WEEK?????????
I tried to imagine a week without a close communion with God. A week without talking to Him, without listening to Him, without the laughter of recognising one of His jokes or the tears of joy that fill my eyes when I recognise His blessings in my life. Perhaps it is because I do not go to church that I don't see it as the only place for worship, but then, my mother goes to church religiously, and she would be horrified if I told her I was looking forward to Sunday because of the chance to worship God.
I always remember the story my Gran told. She was coming home from the shops, shortly before she stopped being able to climb the steep hill unaided. At the top, she saw a beautiful sunset and stopped to pray aloud. An Englishman (the same one, I believe, who tried to tell her Wales was part of England) told her she should save that for church.
She replied that, when someone gives her a lovely gift, she doesn't wait until the end of the week to thank them.
It's interesting that Gran has brought a lot of people to faith, whereas Pastorlenny, the weekly Christian, only seems to drive people away. Gran doesn't preach to people, she just lives a quiet life of absolute delight in God. Teenagers who turned up to help her with her garden all became fascinated by her constant cheerfulness and her certainty that life is good. All of them became Christians. She is the honourary grandmother of many, a loving support to single mothers, the lonely and the unhappy. She is the closest I have ever met to an ideal Christian. When she had no money, the last thing she stopped was her charitable donations. All personal luxuries went first, but she did not stop supporting the building of schools in Africa until she literally had nothing to give.
If I told Gran that we should worship God on Sundays, she would frown at me and say, "How would it be if God only noticed you on Sundays?"
The more I see of Pastorlenny's posts, the more I feel that his problems spring mostly from the fact that he doesn't know God. I still remember how shocked he was by the idea that God talks to us outside the Bible. Until I found the Christianity community and a few others like it, I had no idea there was any Christian who wasn't communicating freely with God. Now there's this Sunday thing. If he has to wait for Sunday for a word from his magic book, no wonder he's always so miserable.
How great is tomorrow gonna be?
"Tomorrow?" I thought, "What's happening tomorrow?" Pastorlenny's tomorrow is, of course, my today. Sunday, 25th January. I felt ever so ignorant not knowing what feast day this is.
I read on:
Anyone else excited about fellowshipping with the saints, worshipping Almighty God, hearing a life-giving word, and receiving the Lord's Supper?
Wow! Must be a big festival, whatever it is. The saints are coming!
Then I remembered that his lot have Communion every week and I realised he's just talking about church and suddenly I noticed the middle bit.
worshipping Almighty God, hearing a life-giving word
The "life-giving word" bit sounds desperate, and is. If you live by the book, you must be always half-starved. The part that shocked me, though, was "worshipping Almighty God."
Once a week?
Only in church?
Once a WEEK?????????
I tried to imagine a week without a close communion with God. A week without talking to Him, without listening to Him, without the laughter of recognising one of His jokes or the tears of joy that fill my eyes when I recognise His blessings in my life. Perhaps it is because I do not go to church that I don't see it as the only place for worship, but then, my mother goes to church religiously, and she would be horrified if I told her I was looking forward to Sunday because of the chance to worship God.
I always remember the story my Gran told. She was coming home from the shops, shortly before she stopped being able to climb the steep hill unaided. At the top, she saw a beautiful sunset and stopped to pray aloud. An Englishman (the same one, I believe, who tried to tell her Wales was part of England) told her she should save that for church.
She replied that, when someone gives her a lovely gift, she doesn't wait until the end of the week to thank them.
It's interesting that Gran has brought a lot of people to faith, whereas Pastorlenny, the weekly Christian, only seems to drive people away. Gran doesn't preach to people, she just lives a quiet life of absolute delight in God. Teenagers who turned up to help her with her garden all became fascinated by her constant cheerfulness and her certainty that life is good. All of them became Christians. She is the honourary grandmother of many, a loving support to single mothers, the lonely and the unhappy. She is the closest I have ever met to an ideal Christian. When she had no money, the last thing she stopped was her charitable donations. All personal luxuries went first, but she did not stop supporting the building of schools in Africa until she literally had nothing to give.
If I told Gran that we should worship God on Sundays, she would frown at me and say, "How would it be if God only noticed you on Sundays?"
The more I see of Pastorlenny's posts, the more I feel that his problems spring mostly from the fact that he doesn't know God. I still remember how shocked he was by the idea that God talks to us outside the Bible. Until I found the Christianity community and a few others like it, I had no idea there was any Christian who wasn't communicating freely with God. Now there's this Sunday thing. If he has to wait for Sunday for a word from his magic book, no wonder he's always so miserable.