Life before 2008 24 Jul 2005 07:06 pm
The Lord’s Day
What a blessed day! It was pretty today. A hot summer day to be sure but the mornings here are very pleasant. We park down a path from our church sanctuary and walk up a hill. I’m sure when it’s raining this will be miserable but today it was lovely.
Covenant Reformed Pres. (I posted a new link in the sidebar) is certainly unlike any church we’ve attended. But it has the strongest sense of community we’ve ever seen and seems like it will be very edifying and challenging spiritually. Today’s sermon was excellent: from Matthew, on the motives of our prayers and whose ears they are intended for. It’s really wonderful to have the Lord’s Supper every single week, to be a part of such God-centered worship, and to grow to a new level of committment.
On a mother’s note, it’s wildly refreshing to be able to sit with my kids in church and not worry about who’s bugged about thier sounds. Ours sat wonderfully today btw and Rowan slept through the sermon and half of the supper procession. We’ve been in other congregations where the membership is a bit divided in how they feel about children being a part of the service. Here the entire fellowship is united and it makes a HUGE difference.
We were invited to the Clapp’s home for dinner today. They have a great big back yard and a great big boxer named “Bogie”. It was great to get to know them better! Their children are closer to Wheaton’s age but our older two are enjoying the age range just fine. We were home for a nap and then it was off to the “Psalm sing”.
One reason why some churches don’t sing Psalms in thier worship is because the congregations are unfamiliar with the tunes. So twice a month CRPS meets to practice. There’s a new hymn and a new Psalm and we practice in parts. The result is that our congegational singing is a bit like everyone being in the choir, and most everyone knows the songs. We had a dinner together first and then we all practiced. The kids headed outside with the older girls to look after them and the adults had a short bible study. They are in a series from John and tonight it was about how the disciples struggled with Jesus’s upcoming death.
Several times today I noticed how our kids are responding to so many other children being in a happy, respectful relationships. We are hearing “yes Ma’am” again and “No sir”. They are making new friends and playing in healthy, joyous, and childlike ways. They crawl into the car worn out, sweaty, exhausted, and in total bliss. What a fantastic place to grow children! Not so much the place I know but the environment. These kids hear thier parents call them “blessing” and they see other kids being active parts of thier families too. No one is shuttled off or sequestered and ther are no sullen faces or pouty lips.
It was nice to be reminded yet again that we did the right thing. Kids are resilient and we’re getting ours back!