Today is the Sabbath and we are headed to church in a while. We attend a church called Church Project which is like nothing I have ever encountered before. Each Sunday the pastor reads a chapter of the Bible and then he speaks on it verse by verse. It is not a typical sermon. There are, like the Bible, some painful parts, some happy parts, and some parts that just defy description. But in each there is something to learn and I have truly learned more in the 6 months we have been going there than in all my years of Sunday School and seminary study. The church itself is very plain. We meet in a converted warehouse and sit on folding chairs. There are no big decorations, no flashy lights, no production. He does tape it for those who are either homebound or out of town but it is a very raw video put on youtube. The purpose in this is that he hopes to be giving away at least 50 percent of tithes and offerings by the 5th year of the church. It is 3 years old and the church already gives away 35 percent of what it takes in. That is outstanding. It is so good to be a member of a church that cares nothing about the outside but only about what is on the inside. On Wednesday nights we split up geographically and meet in people's homes. We delve deeper into what we learned the previous Sunday. There are anywhere from 6-26 people in each group, not including kids. There is a pastor over each house church. This concept is biblical and pretty simple in its set up. I have been so amazed at how quickly the bonds of friendship form within these little groups. Thus, even in a big church, you can be sure that you have a lifeline of prayer and support when something goes wrong. It is how the early churches were laid out. There are, of course, personality clashes and sometimes issue arise due to theology, but all in all it has worked out very well in the house church we are involved in.
We are taking two of the grandkids to the lake. It should be fun although it is going to be 100 degrees every day. But there will be lots of swimming with lots of swimming on the side. That's one good thing about the lake. Lots of water. We are also taking our telescope because we will be away from the city lights. The moon is closer to the earth this week than at any other time so I am excited to finally get to use the telescope and see the surface of the moon. Yesterday was the longest day of the year, summer solstice, and it was hard to adjust my body to the fact that at 9pm it was still light outside. It was hard to get the kids to go to bed but they were pretty tired so once they were in bed they fell asleep pretty quickly. 2 hours of swimming over at Donnie's apartment wore them out.
We are taking two of the grandkids to the lake. It should be fun although it is going to be 100 degrees every day. But there will be lots of swimming with lots of swimming on the side. That's one good thing about the lake. Lots of water. We are also taking our telescope because we will be away from the city lights. The moon is closer to the earth this week than at any other time so I am excited to finally get to use the telescope and see the surface of the moon. Yesterday was the longest day of the year, summer solstice, and it was hard to adjust my body to the fact that at 9pm it was still light outside. It was hard to get the kids to go to bed but they were pretty tired so once they were in bed they fell asleep pretty quickly. 2 hours of swimming over at Donnie's apartment wore them out.
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