Sunday, August 31, 2003

Fuzzy...

Well, first Sunday back. It was good to be back but I was Soooo tired afterward.


We got home and I crashed. I last saw the time at 2:30 pm. I woke up around 6:30 pm. Four hours, and I'm still fuzzy. But I should be better tomorrow.


Let's hope.

5 comments:

  1. And I always thought it was just me. After a morning playing (or even harder, leading worship) all I want to do on a Sunday afternoon is sleep. Granted, I tend to go at it 101%, but with all the concentration and sometimes sheer physical effort (and some songs really are VERY hard work, especially quite worship types) I'm bushed.



    Don't know how 'one man ministries' can do it, although usually they're in the sort of church where everything follows the pattern. Maybe that's how they cope - switch off in the meeting and read the liturgy? I dunno. The Baptist church I grew up in had morning and evening meetings too. It never occurred to me as a kid, but the minister must have been completely worn out by the end of the day. The fact that he'd sometimes come to the youth group afterward (where we'd 'discuss' with him about the Holy Spirit) is even more amazing. I wish I'd had the respect for the man that he deserved at the time.

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  2. You know, I had the same thought yesterday after church, "I wonder how I would make out if I also had an evening service!"



    We used to have them when I was younger, and I sit in wonder at those men back there. How did they do it?



    I suppose that back then they did more of the preaching while someone else led the service. Today I find, leading takes a huge amount of concentration and effort and work (Like you say.)



    Always trying to lead the group, being aware of where God may be leading us, being aware of where the congregation is at, being aware of where the musicians are at, and being aware of what's next, is a most demanding exercise.



    On the Sundays I just had off, I noticed a dramatic shift in my Sunday afternoon activities. When I got home I had energy to do some things with the kids and Lauralea, go see some sites etc. It was cool.



    I remember when I started this stuff. I led and preached one Sunday, then we were invited over to a house for lunch. We went and were having a great time, except I kept falling asleep!!! Good thing they were friends.

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  3. So that is what the Sunday afternoon nap is for - I didn't think of the fact my dad may have been exhausted. Sometimes suspected(when I became a young adult)that other reasons were involved!

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  4. Now Linea, what DO you mean by that??!



    I have to admit I really like our late afternoon meeting at the moment. You can lay in bed late or do something interesting, and then turn up refreshed and ready to meet God.



    But from what I remember meetings 'back then' were really laid back affairs. 4, maybe 5 hymns interespersed with the odd reading, or maybe someone would even (from the lectern, with a book). After 3 hymns there would the the 'word', usually followed by a quick prayer and a final hymn. No effort, just sit numbly in the same pew hearing the words droning over your head. Or post salvation, wishing desperately that there was a space for God, trying to raise your arms if you should happen to sing 'Oh for a thousand tongues' or similar.



    Give me the extra effort and strain of a redeemed church any day. I hated those meetings! Amazing how it all comes rushing back. Our kids will never know (if they're lucky) what they've been saved from. The one good thing about those meetings was that they made you so hungry for God that you'd go anywhere/do anything to meet him.

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  5. To Toni - well I know my mother and father loved each other very much and they did have 5 kids so the rest I'll leave to your imagination.



    I did not ever think about my father being exhausted though from what he did on Sunday morning and evening and Wdnesday evenings too because that was the norm. However the worship part was not so sophisticated as it is now. And I think he had an unpaid staff member in my mom -and often several helpers, such as we were, in us kids. I guess those pastors were supposed to be a one man show besides being there for all the hurting people. They did it as well as they could I guess. But Randall telling how tired he gets makes me appreciate how tired my dad must have gotten too and how little I knew of the stresses of his work.

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