The Same, Just Different!

It has been fun lately to clear out my email address book lately.  (I call it updating because it has a better sound than deleting.)  And, it is not that I am deleting them out of my life but I no longer need their personal numbers anymore at the touch of my fingers.  If I need them I can always contact Lois or Angel or Archie because they have everyone's numbers in the entire world!

So, yesterday I ran across the email to an older couple from Williamsburg Canada where I did my internship 2 years ago.  They were an awesome couple that I seemed to connect well with.  So I sent them an email.  They wrote back about the exciting things happening at their church with new staff members and the pastor who was on sabbatical at the time and came back with renewed energy.  That was great news to me because I had a great time with the congregation that summer.

I remember that the church style was very far from what I was comfortable.  There's was quite traditional with the organ and hymn book setting the tone for the worship service.  (I will write some day on having an organ in worship.)  Many people wore suit and ties in this "country" church.  Most came to Canada from the Netherlands in the 1950's after the war.  There was a structure for the service that was strategically placed with good theology behind it.  They began Sunday morning with 3 songs as a "warm up" before the worship service officially began.  It began when I as the pastor was ushered into the sanctuary by an elder during the third song.  This style was not comfortable for me.

Today, I serve in a church is more urban that located in an old car dealership between a bar and a car wash.  I felt over dressed last Sunday when I wore khaki's and a button down shirt.  There is a wide variety of people from socioeconomic statuses and ethnicities.  There is a worship team that leads the praise songs with loud guitars and keyboards.  The drummer and bass player were not able to play last Sunday but that would have been cool too.

The biggest thing that I notice is that the people of both churches love God, want to hear words of life from  him, and seek to live lives that glorify him.  They are the same in focus yet different in style.  The reason I had such a great time in Williamsburg was the people I met and their honest hearts for God.  Style is style but the hearts of the people are what makes or breaks it for me.

So far I love the hearts of those that I have met at Celebration.  I have seen how God has worked in their lives and look forward to seeing him move in the months to come.  I love the fact that God works his will in the various settings and different styles of his people.  Walking through life with God is so cool!