A Post While The Coffee Brews

A test pot of a $4.50 bag of coffee from the local Price Chopper is brewing (it's called "Pears Coffee," and it's from Omaha--expectations aren't very high), and so a quick word.

Worship this morning at NPH's church: really nice. In a small church, you have to stop yourself from becoming depressed at the beginning of every worship service, and you have to learn to really enter into worship with the people who are there. The quality of the worship had by those attending is not likely to be much better than the quality of those leading; and quality in worship has damn all to do with numbers. This morning was encouraging. NPH hopes the word was brought with a degree of depth, and he's quite sure the people there were able to give themselves to God in that time. Thank God for worship.

In a couple of hours a small group of people will gather here in the pastor's study. It's our "membership exploration" group, the only thing resembling a small group to take place here since NPH started. The group isn't limited to people exploring membership, so one elder has been participating--even leading--from the beginning. We're spending some of our time in intercessory prayer, sharing the joys and concerns of those gathered and of the community and world, some of our time in a discussion of a chapter from N.T. Wright's Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense. Then we concluding with a time of engaging the scriptures (or, rather, being engaged). Every week is a delight. NPH thinks this is the most worthwhile thing he has implemented since becoming the pastor here.