Best Moment of 2008

Hey, no one can deny it, some Sundays are better than others. I've given up trying to predict it. Several theories like attendance, my own preparation and the weather have all been considered, then rejected. For some divine reason, God shows up and people's hearts are in the right place on certain Sundays more than others.

Since it's the year-end and the media has just begun it's annual 'best-of-the-year' analysis of movies, music, internet sites, etc, I thought I'd give you my 'best of' for Sundays this year. It's such an easy answer for me. It was such a great moment for our church, it left me thinking and talking about it over my holidays which commenced the moment I left the church building that Sunday. And it may surprise you that I didn't even preach on the Sunday in question.

I'm speaking of Thanksgiving Sunday. In the spirit of 1 Timothy 4:4 "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving", I had asked the church over the several Sundays prior, to come prepared to give thanks. I had no one tell me that they were going to share, but Tim suggested having an 'open mic' time where people could get up. The response was nothing other than the Spirit working in our church. It was both what people said (the heart-honesty was beautiful), and who said it (not just the usual people who you would expect to share). There was real, meaningful thanksgiving for prayers that were answered over the year (some after many years of prayer). It wasn't just generic expressions of thanks, but specific things like getting jobs, new babies, someone gave thanks to God for their 'beautiful wife' and I wanted to stand up and cheer because we are really seeing God as good to us. Even children drew what they were thankful for and shared it with the whole church.

It is the best moment for our church because I see it fulfilling what our seven-month series in Acts teaching. It was about God's people listening to the Spirit and not being afraid to say so.

There were other Sundays that deserve mention, like the weeks we had baptisms, the outdoor service in June, or the week we were outnumbered by a massive family reunion that visited our church. But Thanksgiving Sunday in my mind was tops.