Life Under the Sun

I went to visit Connections Church today.  I loved it.  It's safe to say I genuinely enjoyed the service there.  The space and group of followers they have their is very intimate.  I wouldn't go so far as to say I had an extreme spiritual awakening or anything, but I definitely felt comfortable.  Many times I'll visit churches and something is just "off."  And so I'll make excuses for the reasons why I'm not as comfortable as I should be or I'll go and visit again until I'm used to whatever may be foreign to me.  I'll say, "Oh, this isn't normal to me because I haven't been reading the Bible, but God wants me to reach this point and become as One within this church body."  Right?  After visiting this church, I've accepted that everyone really does worship differently and that will play a role in where you worship.  I went into this church and I didn't have to question anything.  Everything just felt right.  I didn't feel like I had to "try" at all; I was just there being and learning about God.  

I saw the interpreter on stage signing the worship songs when I came in.  I took a seat in the middle portion of the church area.  They do a community discussion which lasts about 5 minutes after the worship which was different.  I don't think many churches do that.  Unless it's like in the Episcopal church when they give Peace to one another.  This lady named Mary came and spoke with me.  We were to discuss questions regarding:  When was the last time we had thought about the meaning of life?  We also talked and kind of got to know one another.  (The structure of the service actually kind of reminded me of InterVarsity, which kind of put me on edge seeing as I felt that was somewhat clique-y in college, but a more "adult" InterVarsity, I guess).

After the community chat, we listened to the speaker.  I thought this was ironic because they were ending their series on "Time."  This is the very thing that I've mostly been blogging about lately.  The theme today was "Life Under the Sun" and the message was based on Ecclesiastes.  The speaker talked about Solomon writes that the things that we live for are so meaningless.  To anyone reading this it's rather depressing, but as he continues, Solomon is so wise that he embeds in his writing a clue.  It is everything "under the sun" that is meaningless and troubling.  In that box that we put ourselves of black and white, A and B, yes and no.  The speaker pointed out in Ecclesiastes 3:11 "Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.  He has planted eternity in the human heart..."  The speaker discussed that eternity that he puts within us is something that's always there that keeps us hoping for something better.  That's the mystery of God.  That is what we must live for outside of this box of "under the sun."  I am by no means doing the speaker justice in his delivery of the message, but it was really eye-opening to see how we are leveraging our time to find God not from "under the sun" but outside of that box.  

A few of the members of the church introduced themselves to me which was really nice.  After the service, I met the interpreter, Kathy, and Lanny, the member whom they sign for.  They both are very friendly.  The guy who I had e-mailed about visiting, Scott, came and introduced himself to me as well and he let me know about the young adult ministry.  I signed up to go to their super bowl party next Sunday so I'm excited about that.  Kathy let me know that they receive the set of how the service will run 4 days in advance and I told her I'd be more than willing to help out and she could send the songs so I could take a look.  I told her I'd e-mail her and let her know what I was thinking as far as interpreting because I understand that going to church and receiving the message should be first and foremost.  I'm thinking I'll start off small and sign announcements songs or something.  

But I really did enjoy the service.  I guess it's like people say..."when you know, you know!"  I was so excited about being there and I let them all know how much I enjoyed it before leaving.  I look forward to going back next week and pursuing their young adult ministry, that's for sure!   

"Everybody sings their song the way they feel it, everybody closes their eyes and lifts up their hands." ~Blue Like Jazz