Virtually Paul

Alive on a Sunday

May 8, 2007 on 4:25 pm | In Church, Faith, Friends, Music, The Life of Paul |

Last Sunday, after finishing up with my house-sitting gig, I had the privilege of being able to attend the morning service at Yarra Valley Vineyard, which in my mind was just a convenient excuse to catch up with my wonderful Essendon-supporting friend Bec and her almost-as-wonderful recently acquired fiance Geoffrepops. Enough about them though… they’re already getting enough attention at the moment. Geoff has the statistics to prove it.

I expected to be participating in a run of the mill church service. Stand up, sit down, sing this, listen to that, nibble this, drink that, have a chat, go home. And I’m sure I could have been that nonchalant about it if I’d tried hard enough. Fortunately for me, God had other plans.

The time that I spent there was nothing short of exactly-what-I-needed. The music was phenomenal. Acoustic rock all the way with at least one vocalist who I could have listened to all day. There was no sign of a crass performance mentality from the musicians. They were there to lead us, indeed, to draw us in to meeting with God. I’ve missed seeing that happen so much in recent times. The song choices were rich with meaningful words that embodied the theological concepts that I’ve been learning and meditating on over the past year and before. There were no fairy floss one-liners. This was about God. Come as you are. Be engulfed in who He is. Know God, even though everything hurts.

The sermon was fantastic and again hit the nail right on the head as we were led through content on the illusive connection between suffering, faith and healing. I’ve spent a lot of time learning about the first two of those in the last two years. I wanted to go forward for prayer afterwards but didn’t have the strength to step forward. Unfortunately I allow that to happen all too regularly.

After/during the service, I got the chance to catch up with some other Vineyardians who I’ve run into over the years. I think that really added to the atmosphere because I didn’t feel like I was there on my own. My housemate’s sister and her fiance were there, along with some people I’ve led on camps with. In fact, I think I got the best welcome I’ve had to a church service in years when Laura spotted me in the carpark and escorted me into the building, preventing the need for plodding in awkwardly and trying to work out where to go.

I had lunch with Bec and Geoff after the service, at the traditional eatery of anyone who’s just been to a church service - La Porchetta. We had a great chat and I even got the chance to unpack some of the things that have been happening in my church’s youth ministry that have been weighing on me over time. It was good fun and big encouragement to me. Thanks guys!

I took a reasonably significant detour on the way home to visit a place that I spotted in the Melways - Silvan Reservoir Park. I spent a good hour or so there reading through lots of different bible passages and praying heaps before driving back home.

And so for reasons I have shared… and also for reasons that I haven’t… I am seeing the Holy Spirit moving in and around me more and more. Through these experiences and many others, He is showing me that soon He’s going to bring me up out of this valley. He is teaching me how to walk in His strength and not my own. He has even given me a slightly amusing sense of hope that runs deeper than I usually allow anything to go.
Hope is a wonderful thing. And I’m glad that, after all that’s happened, I started to feel that extra bit alive, on a Sunday.