Saturday, April 18, 2009

Saturday night struggle

One of the most challenging things about not having a church home is the Saturday Night debate...where are we going to church this week? Before we left the donut church, we were having four day hangovers recovering from attending, and now we have the one day panic attack the day (or hours) before.

There aren't a ton of churches here, yet that almost makes it harder. Where haven't we tried? The hard thing is that we're between charismatic and evangelical, and neither fits us.

Although I've been moving slowly, I am still working my way through Acts. Acts 2:1 really struck me: "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place."

First of all, when I think of Pentecost, I think of the story of Acts--tongues of flames on everyone's heads, speaking in other people's native languages. What I don't think about is why were they all gathered together? I know they were sharing everything, but even sow, just because you're sharing doesn't mean you spend every moment together. Turns out that Pentecost is also a holiday for Jews...the Feast of Weeks, the holy day celebrating the first fruits. That is just too cool, that the first fruits of the Christian "Passover" was the gift of the Holy Spirit!

The other thing that strikes me is that the unity in the church--there weren't separate churches for Peter, for Mark, for Luke, etc. This week I'm starting a Bible Study through a women's center here in town. I'm looking forward to getting know some other Christian women in town...and maybe find a church home too.

Thanks for giving us the first fruit of the Holy Spirit--of reversing the gifting and giving us the gift. Help us find a church home.

1 comment:

Denise said...

Still praying for you.