The presence of God
This morning's service at New Hope was one of those charismatic jigs where the pastor has one thing planned but something altogether different happens instead. For the uninitiated, imagine a 2 hour church service with no sermon, an understated offering appeal, and just a handful of announcements. Not possible, right? Wrong!
We experienced that today. Scheduled to speak at the third service was a missionary named Jim Jorgensen, a New Hope friend and frequent guest. The worship time ended, announcements followed, then the offering. Instead of live music or a formal offeratory, the church played a CD as the buckets were passed, and an old CD at that.
But something happened. People spontaneously began to sing along with the CD. Just a few at first, but the words were familiar to many and they quickly joined in. One thing led to another and within minutes the altar was filled with people. Some knelt. Others danced and jumped. Some were still and others roudy. Some were quiet. Others shouted. Then people began to pray for one another in the aisles and at their seats.
No one preached. Instead we all enjoyed the manifest presence of a loving God who showed up and brought refreshing, which I, for one, needed. I can't explain it much better than that.
To top it off, God blessed us with ...
posted by Jeremy Del Rio @ 8/21/2005 11:45:00 PM
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