Dear MPC friends,
Rolling into August we are currently up and running at the church with 9:30 AM Sunday School, 11 AM Sunday Worship, and the 5:30 PM Sunday Evening Worship/Study. We also have the Ladies Bible Study meeting in Minish Hall at 6 PM on Wednesdays. The main thing we have not restarted is our Wednesday fellowship meal. However, we did have the tailgate party a few weeks back, which made for some good fellowship while enjoying various flavors of homemade ice cream. Hopefully, we can do something like that again soon.
Coming up on 5 August, Mayor Sandy Smith has called a prayer meeting at the Otha Lee Biggs Auditorium at 8 AM. She has invited various pastors around the community to come out and give a short devotional/prayer for the community. I was graciously asked and will, Lord willing, be participating. I’d love to see ya’ll come out and support the event, as I suspect it’s going to be a good thing for Monroeville.
A good book I’m currently reading and recommend to you, if you are looking, is called Post-Christian: A Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture, by Gene Edward Veith, Jr. (published this year). Veith wrote a book back in the 90s called Post-Modern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture, (which I also recommend); Post-Christian is the follow-up book. Post-Christian is a solid, current and relevant, look into what is going on in the world, particularly in Western culture, from a Christian worldview.
Now, if you have not already re-joined us for worship, please know that you are truly missed. Please be in prayer about when the Lord wants you to return; again, when the Lord wants you to return. When you do return, I encourage you to start joining us in Sunday School and the Sunday evening service. Those two meetings are not online, and they are times of great digging into the Word of God and fellowship. So, when you get back, you can start off right, instilling into yourself good Lord’s Day habits.
Until that time, when you rejoin us in person, I encourage you to reinforce the practice/habit of worshipping with the congregation at 1100 on Sundays via our internet broadcast. Rather than putting off listening to the service until it is a more convenient time or day for you, I encourage you to tune into our live broadcast, if possible. Focus on worshipping with us just as if you are sitting in the sanctuary. One gentlemen, who tunes in live, told me he sings along with us, using the Trinity Hymnal he has at home. That’s what I’m getting at. Make it a focused time of worship and not just background noise to some other activity. Now, I’m not saying this to be legalistic, in some way. What I am saying is that not only will it honor the Lord (which you do whenever you worship), but it has the bonus of keeping you in sync (to a point) with the rest of the body, as we, as a congregation, are united in the Spirit of God together in worship. Plus, it keeps you from getting out of the habit of Sunday morning worship.
The Lord’s blessings be upon you,
Roger