Sunday's Sermon. Part 1.

This particular post has 2 pieces, but the first topic will be finished in a later post....

Piece 1......

I have to split this blog topic into multiple postings. I will forget some of what I want to share if I don't start doing it now, but I checked out of the sermon somewhere in the middle & before I attack the items said that caused me to quit listening, I want to rewatch the sermon on our church's website.

My heart hurts for my Catholic friends. For the negativity brought upon them by the media and our fellow Christian brothers & sisters. It really has saddened me to see the reactions to the choosing of the new pope. 

One of top things on my "must-have's" list when finding a new church home, was to find a place where the Catholic church wasn't constantly being bashed....by the other attendees of the church or by the leadership. I very much still love the Catholic church. (The church we now attend, by the way, is non-denominational.)

I was pleasantly surprised when we started going to this church, and the other 'members' were not instant haters on the Catholic denomination (and many of them either have a Catholic background themselves, or their close family & friends do).

I very much appreciated going through the first segment of our foundations class and having a day where there was a timeline of denominations, listing out important people & where some of the beliefs came from for those churches.

There was no bashing at all in that towards any denomination. And it made me happy. 

Sunday's sermon began with the Pastor speaking of the media coverage of the Pope being chosen. It seems that people were appalled by some of the Pope's first statements....his views on subjects such as abortion and homosexuality.  If you aren't aware of it, the new Pope is rather conservative & made it known off the bat. Our Pastor pointed out that it's ridiculous for them to have expected him to say anything else. Our culture has changed, our society's level of acceptance has changed, but doctrine still remains the same.

I was happy to hear speak of the new Pope & his beliefs in our church. I was happy that it started out positive, and not in a descending tone. It really made me feel good about the church we chose for our family. 

There may be more for me to add to that part, like I said, I checked out somewhere along the way Sunday morning & need to rewatch the sermon :-)


Piece 2.....

In December there was a Sunday where I went to service alone, while D-man stayed behind with the kids. It had been a rough week, rough month, rough couple of months, but that morning I was nearing the point of a complete mental breakdown.

During service that day, our Pastor had invited us to acknowledge publicly if we were in need of prayer for something, anything, that was becoming a real struggle at that time. He invited us to stand, and for others to pray around us, for us.

I haven't told anyone about my experience in service that morning, not even D-man. I stood. I was sick of fighting all of the battles going on. I needed prayer & I needed the power of prayer from others, but I was not about to ask for it on my own. I felt like it was God's will that I ended up there that day alone, and that the invitation to be prayed over presented itself.

So I stood there, in that moment during service, and I was surrounded by a small group people...both people that I have known for years, and complete strangers. They prayed over me, and the others who were standing as well. I felt such a sense of peace in those moments.

There was an invitation of the same sort this past Sunday, and I was able to pray for someone else who needed it. I hope they felt that peace as well.

It's a small small world with an amazingly complex plan already set in place and looking back, I now realize that that Sunday when I was in need of prayer and the opportunity arose that I was able to get it from others, was a part of an even larger plan. The complete strangers who were standing in the row in front of me, touching my arm & praying over me.....we became a part of the small group that they lead, and now have grown into another small group that is branched out of theirs.