A Well Oiled Machine of Righteousness

right·eous [rahy-chus]

–adjective

1. characterized by uprightness or morality: a righteous observance of the law.

2. morally right or justifiable: righteous indignation.

3. acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous: a righteous and godly person.

4. Slang . absolutely genuine or wonderful: some righteous playing by a jazz great. –noun

5. the righteous, (used with a plural verb) righteous persons collectively.

          A couple of Sundays ago, Lila Jane and I were still in DC, so we went to church to with my sister and her family. This church is called Church of the Redeemer, and as I said to her when we left, it is a well-oiled machine of righteousness. We went to the 1pm service and so did about 1200 other people (there are 5 services total--2 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday) and we dropped our tiny tots off in the Promiseland Nursery and Preschool. The lady at the desk asked for our names, our tiny tot's name, her age and then printed off stickers, one she gave to me, one she stuck on the back of Lila Jane and we proceeded to find her room (we learned after the service that Lila sang songs, ate a snack and danced to her own little tiny person sermon). We were ushered to seats in the balcony, we were late...but nobody seemed to mind. On both of the stickers was a number and we when got to the big people sermon, my sister told me to watch for the numbers on this red numbered ticker at the side of the pulpit as it indicated that my child needed to be picked up from the nursery for some reason. It was easy to glance at this ticker while following along with the sermon on the big screen and at the pulpit below.

         The sermon was good. I heard the second part of The Pathway to Miracles--Acts 3:1-10 (you can listen to or watch it here or listen/watch other past sermons here), you can even get the notes to fill in as you listen and/or watch. We must ask, believe and then receive miracles in order to have miracles. I like that the Pastor (who has a blog) put an emphasis on the fact that it's OK to ask for miracles and it's even more important that we aren't afraid to receive the miracle...sometimes people don't receive the miracles that God has rightly given to them.

          After the service, while waiting to present my ticket to retrieve the tiny person, several people talked to us, I don't think any of them knew I was new, I don't think any of them knew my sister and her family had been there before. That's when I realized that churches like this allow you to be anonymous...I'm not sure how I feel about that? Unless, of course, I'm feeling like being anonymous...but, then again should I be allowed to do so?

         What type of church feeds you spiritually? How do you get involved in a church that allows you to be anonymous?

         Well, off to get ready for church...Happy Sunday!