This past weekend, I was blessed with “worship x 4”. I had four very unique and very moving worship experiences. The first one came from what some may think of as a very unusual time. Saturday, we had a Life Celebration/ Funeral Service for Breanna Simmons. I had the privilege of marrying Breanna and Al Simmons almost 10 years ago. Bre developed breast cancer. She fought for the better part of 3 years with a positive attitude and strong courage. Our worship leader, praise team and tech crew put together a beautiful Life Celebration Worship service. I felt as though God would have been pleased and honored as we sought to give Him glory and ask for His mercy and strength. Bre’s life celebration service was attended by around 150 to 200 people. Only handfuls were from JIBC. That means a lot of people were blessed by our effort to show them a good and beautiful Father and to present the Good News of the Gospel.
The second and third worship times happened on Sunday morning as we gathered together with our church family. Our 9:00 service was attended by 94 people. It was a great way to begin this year’s advent season. We sang a favorite Christmas Hymn “O Come O Come Emmanuel”. One hour later, 127 of us gathered at 11:00 to celebrate the Hope we have in the advent/coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I so love this time of the year as we celebrate “Best Day Ever!” The Advent Mission Gifts are beginning to fill the worship center stage. It looks beautiful.
The fourth time of worship was during Celebrate Recovery. Pastor David and his team lead the CR group in “celebrating” our recovery. The songs are always heartfelt. By the way, did you know that half of the people who attend Celebrate Recovery are there for reasons like co-dependency, control issues, relationship issues, PTSD, depression or other mental health challenges? I so love singing with others who are on journey toward recovery.
I felt I was particularly blessed with WORSHIP X 4. Worship makes the most wonderful time of the year even a little more wonderful.
Remember when you are out shopping to pick up one or two of the items we are collection this year: diapers, wipes, jelly or syrup and any clothes item for size 5 and 5T. We also encourage you to consider a gift to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Thank you for the outpouring of love to our Father and to those who are under served.
See you soon, good Lord willing,
Pastor Tom
