The River is Alive...

Yesterday was another first for me and for our church.  We held our worship service in a funeral home.  It wasn't creepy at all and it was perhaps a reminder of the fact that we who are alive in Christ live among the walking dead of the world.  History tells us that the early church met among the underground tombs in Rome.  I am also aware of another church in Northern Colorado that meets regularly in a funeral home.  It's not going to be a regular venue for us but it was much appreciated.  Mark's Funeral Service graciously allowed us to use their facility.  We had previously been looking to schedule all of our Summer services in the park but found that June 13th was unavailable at any of the city parks.  One of our members suggested weeks ago that perhaps the reason we could not get a park was because it was going to rain.  Sure enough--it was wet and cold throughout the entire weekend.  We were grateful to be warm and dry indoors.

I've been preaching through our Grace River core values and Sunday happened to be the core value, "Alive".  The biblical text was Ephesians 2:1-10 and there were five points of emphasis:  #1--We were Dead (v1-3), #2--We are now Alive (v4-5), #3--We are Seated with Christ in Heaven (v6-7), #4--We have been Saved (v8-9), and #5--We are God's Workmanship created for Good Works (v10).