What You Missed

For the second week in a row, we have had Winter Weather Issues here in the upper midwest.  Last night and this morning it was freezing rain.  In the middle of the night, one of my stepsons was unfortunate enough to be out driving, watching cars who couldn't get off the freeway ramps because of the ice, and many many accidents.

As you might imagine, church this morning was a smaller crowd than usual.  We had a few adult children call their parents and tell them not to come to church.  But enough people ventured out to have worship, a few more at ten than at 8:45.

Here's what you missed:

1.  The hymns.  We sang a lot of good hyms, including Lift High the Cross, My Song is Love Unknown, Just as I am, and Jesus Shall Reign.  I love the third verse of "Jesus Shall Reign."

People and realms of ev'ry tonge dwell on his love with sweetest song;
and infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on his name.

(there was a young couple with their 10 month old baby at the Saturday evening service.  The baby sang along, appropriately, during this verse.  And here's one thing I love about being a pastor:  during that verse, I caught the eye of the young father, and he caught my eye, at the same time, and we both smiled.)

2.  At 10:00, one of our older elementary students read the lesson from Colossians.

3.  The children's message, where all of the children present got Burger King Crowns.  Since there was no Sunday School today, several of them wore their crowns when they came up for communion.  I got to bless them by saying.  "You are sealed by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is your king."

4.  Even though it was a small crowd at 10:00 a.m., the worship felt lively and life-giving to me.  There were people of every age group present, from little kids to teenagers to parents and grandparents.  During one part of my sermon, our talented pianist played "Jesus, Remember Me" softly underneath.

5.  In that small, eclectic crowd this morning were my mom and mother-in-law, who ventured out, and two of my former confirmation students (one of them lives in Shakopee now).

6.  You missed my sermon too.  I'll post that a little later....