We had "church on the road" yesterday, one of the joys of not having our own church building. The Adventist church we rent space from scheduled a special event for themselves yesterday and told us (10 days ago!) that we needed to make other arrangements. We did, but not happily. We met in the home of some members where we usually meet for Holy Week services (since we cannot use the church building for those services either). It is a bit cramped, and we lose some people with the new location, but all in all it works okay. I try to maintain a reverent atmosphere so that the surroundings will fade and the gifts that are being given will be highlighted. I know one of our members that did not get the word and went to the church - I am sorry! I pray there were no visitors who showed up . . .
But as I was thinking more about this early this morning, I was thinking of how things work in a marriage, and the promises "for better, for worse." Sometimes being the pastor of a church without its own building is for better (no maintenance headaches!), and sometimes it is "for worse" (like yesterday). But that we're in this together, pastor and people, there is no doubt.
Now to start making plans for where we'll celebrate Christmas. I hope they'll let us use the building on Friday night for Christmas Eve, but with Christmas Day on a Saturday, I'm sure the Adventists will be using the building that morning. So we'll again take our church on the road - but wherever we'll be, our Saviour will be with us, faithfully forgiving and feeding His little flock called Saint Athanasius.
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