Long Time Coming
Jeff,
. . . . I'm writing to ask you and J*** to read Scripture together in second worship this Sunday. The text is the classic Ruth 1:1-18 story - ideally suited to be read by husband and wife. If then, following the reading, you would offer a prayer based on some part or theme from that text, it would be so greatly appreciated.
The Lord bless you and yours, dear brother.
In His Care,
S****
_________________________________
We will do it. We’re honored and thrilled to participate like this. We have been longing for a community in which J*** can participate alongside me in public worship, so this is an answer to long and, at times anguished, prayers.
Keep well, brother. You and yours are in our prayers as well.
Be strong and courageous.
JRB
____________________________
Bless you, Jeff. I, too, am thrilled that you and J*** can share in the reading of the Word together in public worship at [GP]. I pray for yet greater venues / opportunities to benefit from the rich spiritual depth of insight that so many of our sweet sisters in the Lord are able to articulate. In years to come, our children will be able to recall memories / images of seeing and hearing Dad and Mom stand before the gathered assembly of God's worshipping people, reading together from the holy scriptures. No small matter, I'd say. . . .
S****
__________________________
No small matter indeed! J*** has been very graceful to join me in this Church of Christ tribe, and we have shared some struggles in previous congregations. With the advent of two daughters, preferences have become imperatives. We won’t sit idly by and permit our daughters to be prohibited from their blessed places in the Kingdom. Thanks for your encouragement and vision. . . .
Keep well, brother. We can’t wait for Sunday.
JRB
. . . . I'm writing to ask you and J*** to read Scripture together in second worship this Sunday. The text is the classic Ruth 1:1-18 story - ideally suited to be read by husband and wife. If then, following the reading, you would offer a prayer based on some part or theme from that text, it would be so greatly appreciated.
The Lord bless you and yours, dear brother.
In His Care,
S****
_________________________________
We will do it. We’re honored and thrilled to participate like this. We have been longing for a community in which J*** can participate alongside me in public worship, so this is an answer to long and, at times anguished, prayers.
Keep well, brother. You and yours are in our prayers as well.
Be strong and courageous.
JRB
____________________________
Bless you, Jeff. I, too, am thrilled that you and J*** can share in the reading of the Word together in public worship at [GP]. I pray for yet greater venues / opportunities to benefit from the rich spiritual depth of insight that so many of our sweet sisters in the Lord are able to articulate. In years to come, our children will be able to recall memories / images of seeing and hearing Dad and Mom stand before the gathered assembly of God's worshipping people, reading together from the holy scriptures. No small matter, I'd say. . . .
S****
__________________________
No small matter indeed! J*** has been very graceful to join me in this Church of Christ tribe, and we have shared some struggles in previous congregations. With the advent of two daughters, preferences have become imperatives. We won’t sit idly by and permit our daughters to be prohibited from their blessed places in the Kingdom. Thanks for your encouragement and vision. . . .
Keep well, brother. We can’t wait for Sunday.
JRB
posted by JRB at 11:17 AM
5 Comments:
Cool.
J*** and Suzi talked about signing when you were here visiting, and I have always wondered about that (in "church"). Why is it okay for her to sign in church (intrepreting), but not okay to simply read words from the scripture, which is a whole lot less influenced by her own thoughts than the signing is?
Anyway, this is cool that J*** gets to do this with you, and cool that you get to do this with her.
JM: This actually was last week, and we participated yesterday. You and I have discussed this previously elsewhere, and I report that the moment was all we had prayed for. Even more, I carried our 4 month old daughter up with us, so she cooed and chewed on her toy while J and I read and prayed. Perhaps no one else realized it, but we were consecrating her in worship before the Body, and her big sister by proxy who was in the nursery.
I do not know the history of this progression in our new church. My wife, however, celebrated an even greater achievement: that at our church this was ordinary. Participating publically with her was extraordinary to us, but even better because it was not a big deal to the church. No one squirmed; no one budged. No one convened a "men's business meeting" to inquire. That's happened elsewhere in our lives, so this was a refreshing, glorious blessing.
Don, I've lead portions of worship in probably thousands of services, but standing beside my wife as she read the Word "between the prayers" made me giddy, nervous and thrilled. I've never taken a reading assignment so seriously. I never will take it lightly again.
It was a beautiful occasion. A blessing and truly wonderful. I was honored to be able to serve the Body alongside JRB in this way.
That is beautiful stuff. I hate that it is such an extraordinary moment for most of us CoC'ers. Ideally, it should be commonplace. Thank you so much for sharing brother.
And when you guys come visit Jackson, you need to share that experience with the folks here at the Brook.
When is that visit scheduled again?
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