Another Colleague

Today I wrapped up my ministerial colleagues, except for the one I am leaving for Advent.

The church has an average attendance of 20 and there were about that in worship. The service began with a reading of the announcements. Three whole bulletin pages of them! Plus two that didn't make it into the bulletin.

We sang out of the UM Hymnal and "that dreaded Faith We Sing". Which is funny, because the chosen song was a hymn not contemporary music. All music was played on an organ, but only the main notes were played and it was still hard to follow. The woman behind me did not have a singing voice and often sang wrong words. She may have been distracted by her grandson. After worship, the woman in front of me commented on my "nice singing voice".

The pastor filled in for the children's message. She noted that she did not normally do the children's message and had just found out the regular was sick today. She was very uncomfortable with her lack of preparation and did not keep the children's attention after allowing the young boy to retell last week's message.

Her sermon was very well crafted. She began with an explanation of lectionary texts and a discussion of the Pharisees and Sadducees relating to the writings of Josephus. The message was based on Luke and the question of who will we spend our time in heaven with.

I had only heard this pastor preach once before in an ecumenical service and quite enjoyed her message today. It is not my intention to repeat churches as there are so many churches to explore, but I would recommend this pastor's messages.