It is late on a Wednesday evening. The night custodial crew
is moving through the building, doing what they do. It appears I am
alone in the office area. Other offices are locked up. Hallway
lights have been turned off. God and are wrestling with the meaning of
1st Peter.
There are noises coming from upstairs. I keep working on the sermon and stop, now and then, to make sense of the sounds. The building shakes and rumbles. I think the custodians must be moving tables...rolling them from one end to the other in the Great Hall. An hour goes by and the noises continue above my head. Now I hear the sound of running feet! Is it possible we have people playing Australian rules football upstairs?
Finally, I grab my keys and sprint upstairs to see what in the world is going on in the Great Hall at 10:30 at night. I look in the open door and I see college guys, from Jubilee, playing some kind of running game with Travis and Darren. They're having a ball! "Wanna play with us?" they shout my way. "No," I say. "Need to work on the sermon."
I head back downstairs smiling. It is nearly 11 at night and a group of IU students are hanging out, playing games, in God's house! This Jubilee thing is an unfolding miracle.
The Bible talks about making a joyful noise to the Lord. And that is what I hear more and more of at First/The Open Door: joyful noise.
When the college students fill up Bloomington Sandwich Company on Wednesday evenings you can hardly hear yourself think over the roar of people talking.
As children and parents register for Sunday School on Sunday mornings, just outside the sanctuary doors, there is a roar as children talk and parents interact with teachers. (Someone said they love the energy of the "organized chaos" of our children's ministry!)
When worship is over more and more people are turning to people around them, asking about life, offering to pray, talking about...whatever.
The noise is the sound of life. It is the sound of God at work creating community. It is the sound of grace. It is the joyful noise of love being made flesh.
My high school librarian wanted her space as silent as a mausoleum. Any signs of life or human interaction, in the library, was stamped out as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, some churches are like mausoleums - silent, serious and perfectly predictable.
Acts 2 says the coming of the Holy Spirit was like the sound of a "strong wind, gale force." Can you hear the wind blowing around here as we gather for worship, connect in community and go out to serve?
In Christ and for Christ,
Mark
There are noises coming from upstairs. I keep working on the sermon and stop, now and then, to make sense of the sounds. The building shakes and rumbles. I think the custodians must be moving tables...rolling them from one end to the other in the Great Hall. An hour goes by and the noises continue above my head. Now I hear the sound of running feet! Is it possible we have people playing Australian rules football upstairs?
Finally, I grab my keys and sprint upstairs to see what in the world is going on in the Great Hall at 10:30 at night. I look in the open door and I see college guys, from Jubilee, playing some kind of running game with Travis and Darren. They're having a ball! "Wanna play with us?" they shout my way. "No," I say. "Need to work on the sermon."
I head back downstairs smiling. It is nearly 11 at night and a group of IU students are hanging out, playing games, in God's house! This Jubilee thing is an unfolding miracle.
The Bible talks about making a joyful noise to the Lord. And that is what I hear more and more of at First/The Open Door: joyful noise.
When the college students fill up Bloomington Sandwich Company on Wednesday evenings you can hardly hear yourself think over the roar of people talking.
As children and parents register for Sunday School on Sunday mornings, just outside the sanctuary doors, there is a roar as children talk and parents interact with teachers. (Someone said they love the energy of the "organized chaos" of our children's ministry!)
When worship is over more and more people are turning to people around them, asking about life, offering to pray, talking about...whatever.
The noise is the sound of life. It is the sound of God at work creating community. It is the sound of grace. It is the joyful noise of love being made flesh.
My high school librarian wanted her space as silent as a mausoleum. Any signs of life or human interaction, in the library, was stamped out as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, some churches are like mausoleums - silent, serious and perfectly predictable.
Acts 2 says the coming of the Holy Spirit was like the sound of a "strong wind, gale force." Can you hear the wind blowing around here as we gather for worship, connect in community and go out to serve?
In Christ and for Christ,
Mark
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