March 30 Worship: "In Times of Grief, a Birth"

Sometimes pastors get a weird view of things.  On Sunday, I hesitated to step up to the microphone and start worship because it was obvious that almost everyone was happily chatting with someone else.  Maybe it was the warm weather and the sunshine.  All I know is that I hated to interrupt what I found to be a joyful and beautiful noise.

Still, I did step up to the microphone and we turned our attention to God -- and our worship was rather joyful.  The bell choir rang during the offering and then we turned our attention to one of Jesus' promises to his disciples, recorded in John 16, about the consequences of Jesus being gone for "a little while" before returning "again a little while.  In a brief sermon, I suggested that Jesus' promise was a hard one, at least in some ways.  There will be things in our lives that cannot be made right and which will cause us grief; however, God has a future for us where our joy will be so great that it will dwarf the hard times in our lives now.

If you missed Sunday's sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with others, you can find an audio recording here.

You can also listen to Sunday's communion meditation.