Not what I expected....

Yesterday's Connection service at NMC was amazing. I'm only sorry that they decided to do this type of service during Spring Break! I wish I would have taken a picture with my camera phone but I didn't so I'll try to set it up for those of you who weren't there.

As we walked through the doors there were candles lit everywhere with signs that read "What would you do if no one was here to greet you? Would you turn away?", "What would you do if you had to worship in silence?", "What would you do without music?", etc. (I may not have them all correct but you get the idea).

Once inside the setting was just beautiful. The stage was in the middle and all the chairs were arranged around the stage. The lights were down, except for a couple that were strategically placed on the cross, which put magnificent shadows of the cross on the outer walls and there were so many candles. It was just really a sight to see. We did celebrate with music but it was more of an acoustic sound and it was a really nice change of pace. I didn't think that I would be so affected by the sermon and the music because I am all for the upbeat sounds that we typically get in the Connection.

Chris Knight gave the sermon and the main message was about standing up for our faith and our love for Christ. Would we "stand" when the time came or would we fade into the crowd and try to go unnoticed? He made references to the number of Christians that lay their life on the line every hour of every day to stand up for Christ. He asked us some really tough questions and it was amazing to see how the people responded.

I was especially touched when my youngest daughter started asking me questions about the message and what was going on during the sermon. We had a chance to write our name on a canvas board (if we were willing to take that step and stand up for Christ) plus take an act of communion. She asked me if she was able to do his because of her age. I was really touched that she was putting so much thought into the whole process. She was asking a lot of questions about what it meant and the best that I could describe for her was to basically say "would you give up your life to stand up for Christ". Of course she translated that to being beaten and nailed to a cross the way Jesus died for us so I decided that I really didn't want to get into that detailed of a conversation with her right there at church so I downplayed that a bit. In the end she really wanted to get up and write her name and take communion. We ended up going up as a family and it was hard for me to hold back the tears. It was really touching and meant so much to me. (of course anyone that knows me well knows that it takes very little to make me cry based on my weak emotional state!)

So for those of you who missed this type of service I hope that NMC does this again some time. It was nice to have a change and it was wonderful to see that young and old responded to this message and take it to heart.