Today is the first Sunday in three and a half years that I was cold in church! It was a b-r-r-r-ry kind of 70 degrees! I am even surprised the thermometer hit 70! It feels like 60. I asked the hostess at church with the gigantuan umbrella what was going on and she said that it is simply a cold front coming through. It is dark, gloomy, raining cats and dogs. A typical October day from where I come! Of course the only difference is in the islands the windows are open and the chilly wind breaks through and chills you to the bone. It reminds me that next year when we live in Phoenixville, come October, we will be wishing for the island temperatures!
Truthfully it felt like a snow day in the Northeast! Let me tell you why. When we arrived at church there were very few cars. When we ran in through the rain there were maybe only 20 people in the pews. That is a common occurrence because we are in Jamaica and there is a time culture as in every country. The only difference was even by 10:30 the pews were quite empty. There was this feeling of how I remember snowed out services! Church not being cancelled yet a realization that few would be in attendance and those that are in attendance are feeling lighthearted, warm, and happy to be in church with just a few. You know on snow days there is less formality, maybe a little more music than normal and just an overall feeling of family. I counted 50 people in a church where we are usually sitting shoulder to shoulder and bursting at the seams with 200 or so. Maybe that is another reason I am usually so hot in church!
The worship was great, I may even say better than ever! It was an all male team. One guy sounded like Israel Houghton and another guy sounded like Andre Crouch! What a great sound! I was blessed. After an hour of worship the Pastor tagged onto the last song to go right into Communion. The song was "I am redeemed, bought with a price, Jesus has changed my whole life. If anybody asks you just who I am, tell them I've been redeemed!" The words are fantastic and so is the melody. Pastor Davis exhorted the few in attendance about the power of redemption and instead of serving communion at the end of the message he did it after the worship. One of those "snow day" kind of changes! It was great. He preached then and the only thing that could have made the service more special was if there was a fireside room where we could have had hot chocolate and cookies!
A great day to be in God's house but now I am glad to be home in my sweatshirt! B-r-r-r, let's make some hot chocolate and dream of a white Christmas!
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