Worship on April 6
It is finally starting to warm up here in Indiana. Folk seemed to be a great mood as they gathered for worship on such a beautiful day.
Jane E, Julie W, Buzz D, Phyllis H and Carol M each shared prayer concerns with the group.
The Worship Service was called to order. Jeff Need was our liturgist of the morning. He read a portion of a devotional from Bruce Watt that talked about our scripture lesson of the morning. In this reading we were asked if it would make more sense to go fishing in our bathtub. The tub is closer and much less messy than the local fishing hole. He asked if that doesn’t make sense why do we do evangelism around the same set of friends all the time. We need to be out “fishing” where the fish are.
Linda Ostler was our song leader of the morning. We opened by singing the praise song set of “Here I am to Worship”, “There is a Redeemer” and “There’s Something About that Name.”
Following our time of prayer, Melissa Hubler taught our children. This was the first time Melissa had undertaken such a task. She took the time to introduce herself to the church. Many people appreciated this thoughtful gesture.
Melissa talked about riddles and how we can be stumped by them. She told about riddle about a boy holding a live bird and asking a wise man if the bird is alive or dead. The wise man answered, “The answer is in your hands.” Melissa taught that the answer to God’s gift of salvation is in each of our hands as well. We must make the decision.
Following the sharing of offerings, we sang, “Open the Eyes of My Heart” accompanied by Rodney Lawrence on the guitar.
The Scripture lesson was from John 21:1-14.
Pastor Rick talked about how low the 7 disciples mentioned here must have felt in this story. It appeared that they had left everything to follow Jesus. Following Jesus didn’t work out. Now fishing isn’t working out either.
This story points out that God allows us to go through hard times so we can deepen our commitment to God. After a night of not catching fish, the 7 were much more interested in listening to Jesus.
Also in the story Jesus asked the disciples to share some of the fish they had just caught so that they could eat together. So it is in life. Jesus blesses us with all kinds of “fish.” He asks us to share some of these so everyone can enjoy being with Jesus.
Were the disciples close to going back to fishing and not being Jesus’ witnesses around the world?
How close to we come to spending our time making money and not doing the ministry God calls us to do? We must make sure we keep our eyes on our calling. Jesus will care for our breakfast and any other need we have.
Our closing hymn was “At Calvary.”
About 133 folk enjoyed our worship service.
