Monday Morning Musings ...

Easter Sunday is always a great day and yesterday was another great Easter. The weather was beautiful and sunny, though a little cold for the middle of April. The highlights of the day were seeing so many people celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, to see some people attend who have never been there before, to see some spouses who are not believers attend, to see a family that before had only been the children attending on Wednesday nights and to say to the congregation "He is Risen" and hear them respond "He is Risen indeed!" Another moment was both a highlight and a lowlight, that was some of our children singing. The problem was the dvd they used didn't work correctly in our system and was real scratchy sounding. The kids were great, and their energy added a lot to the service.

We did not have Sunday School so people could solely focus on Worship and that inviting people to attend was easier with only one thing going on. We did have 30 minutes of "pre-service" music, with our band and a couple of special vocal solos. I don't think we will do this next year. We have done it the past 4 years and I think it has run it's course. So we will look to do something different next year.

I did not feel good about my message and presentation. I do however, realize that the Holy Spirit is the main communicator and that where I fail He can do amazing things. I just hate to make Him work so hard. I really wanted to call "Do over" like on the elementary school playground as soon as I finished. I felt that I was too scattered in my thoughts and that I broke a big Easter Sunday rule, "Keep it simple". But again, I am confident that the prayers of many ahead of time and the fact that God can communicate clearly where I fail. So I am counting on the prayers and the Holy Spirit. That is always a good thing.

Our attendance was slightly more than a year ago. We had some exciting moments seeing certain people walk into worship. I am rejoicing in seeing some rarely attending spouses and a couple of Wednesday night kids come in with their parents. That is awesome.

Easter is such an awesome celebration. He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!