Sermon Notebook

I was once given a piece of advice that it would be a good idea to keep a sermon notebook. I listened, but I wish I was actually better at keeping a notebook of the many stories and theological experiences we have had over the past few days. I've made extensives notes, and maybe this will actually suffice.

After we spent the night in "Googes" we made a group decision to NOT travel downtown to St. George's Cathedral and experience high-church worship with the Anglicans, but rather we stayed and worshipped with our new township friends. Sunday morning in the township is actually someting else. Many, many of the residents dress up in their finest clothes and walk to their neighborhood church. We decided to attend the Harvest House. It is a new church (10 months) in that area and they still worship in a big tent (supported by two middle poles but they hope to grow to 5 poles soon). They have a chancel area and sound equipment to be heard from all over. IT WAS LOUD! Beautifully, when it was silent in the tent, you could actually hear the other churches in the neighborhood praising their Maker.

So here it is...their ministry is to reach out to those who live in the shanty town next to it, but it is also located next to the township dump. So, I wondered what it meant, theologically, to worship and sing praises to God next to this massive amounts of trash and in sight of the shanty homes. Well, I need to continue to cogitate on this, but hospitality was really the word of the day and theologically, it was powerful.

We were obvious visitors, and they welcomed us quite warmly and as more people arrived for worship, we gave up our seats for them, but then several fellas went down the block and began carrying formal, padded-seat, dining chairs from their homes for us to sit on. It was hot. It was in the middle of worship. It was some distance. It was some effort. The sermon on was on what it meant to worship God all day long, and that worship of God doesn't stop when when you leave the tent. I got a true sense that this community, this body of new believers understood something that I believe many of us struggle throughout our lives to understand. It's about delivering your very best for the stranger in your midst without second thought because that is what Christ has done for you. When you do this, you will never mind the effort or the heat or the timely inconveniences. When you do this, you will glorify God.

May it be that we would be so quick to extend such a welcome to those in our places of worship who have come to hear the good news of God's love and grace and to worship God. May it be that we would bear witness to Jesus Christ when we do our very best to make our guests feel authentically welcomed into God's kingdom.