I'm currently cooking dinner, so I figured I'd fill you in on church yesterday.
Went to Hillsong London of Paris. Apparently this was a plant of Hillsong's (in Australia) church plant in London. I found out later that when when the church first began, folks took the Eurostar over from London every Friday to put it on!
Now they do church twice a month on Sundays and every Friday night, so I'm looking forward to going this Friday.
Anyway, the church is just down the street so Tom and I rode the Tram until the line ended, and then walked just a couple minutes. Walking up to the church, I could hear music pouring out and the woman standing at the door greeted us with a friendly "Bonjour!"
We walked in and found our seat. Lyrics were on the screen in french and english, though I think the first song was french. Anyway, we sang about 50% in english and then 50% in french. Mostly all Hillsong songs.
A man came up and gave a little teaching about why we should give, which was great. Based it on the passage where God commands Noah to build the Ark and makes the connection that God commands us to give, and just as Noah saved those who entered the ark through his obedience, those that enter God's house that we build through our contributions are also saved. It was something I hadn't thought about in a long time.
The pastor then got up and updated us on praises in the church and prayer requests in the church and then asked us to "work in prayer" so we all prayed at the same time out loud.
The sermon was great, on the parable of the sower, but told through the perspective of those who are already saved and ought to be bearing fruit. Great great sermon. We sang one more song at the end and then prayed for the people on our right and left.
They are having a church picnic on July 14th which I think I'm gonna try to go to. I really felt refreshed after church this week and was really grateful.
Also started on a new piece today and had more score reading today. It went pretty well might sight reading needs to improve for sure!
Anyways, I gotta eat some dinner and work on music tonight. The old excitement for writing is starting to come back.
-BC
4 comments:
I love how believers can gather in any place in the world and instantly feel like they are with family, extended family maybe, with different traditions or customs, but still family. The familiarity of gathering with others who to seek to exalt God is just a taste of heaven. I remember walking into the church in China, nothing felt familiar, yet everything did. Maybe that's why we are told not to forsake the assembling...I'm so glad you are getting to experience this. It makes me think of this song:
How beautiful the feet that bring
the sound of good news
and the love of the King.
How beautiful the hands that serve
the wine and the bread
and the sons of the earth.
How beautiful
How beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ.
i think i just drooled on my keyboard.
I love experiencing God in other lands, and worshipping with believers who speak, recitate, and sing in another language. Deb's right..just a taste of heaven.
Your metabolism was made for this experience. I love how you use every ounce to get in as much as you can in between everything else. BTW, your dinner sounded pretty good, actually. Keep posting...I love it!
Hello, BranMan
Well, I've been gone for 10 days so this was the first time I could spend any time reading this epic novel! WOW! I had a cup of soup and read all this for lunch. Quite entertaining, I must say! I feel sorry for all the non-musicians who are reading this and can't enjoy laughing and groaning with you over the musical stuff...I groaned A LOT, and am SO glad you're doing this and not me. You da MAN! The counterpoint stuff is vicious. Good thing you're young and your mental hard drive is not to cluttered! You can do it...and will be so much better when this is over! What a great experience. AND, Parisian Hillsongs, huh? What a deal. How do you say Shout to the Lord in French?
Stay safe!
Ed Willmington
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