Welcome to the House of the Lord

So this morning my mom and I had the most wonderful experience. Most of you know that I'm editing a book for the Pastor of a Baptist megachurch (4,000 members) in Baltimore. The Pastor had told me they always have a special communion service the first Sunday of the month. So we thought we'd visit.

The church has a large super energized gospel choir in white robes. It was very traditional. As we walked in, they were singing "Welcome, welcome to the house of the Lord." We going to just sort of slide into a back row but the Pastor had spotted us coming in (not too hard as we were the only white people there) and sent his son over to have us come sit in the front row with his family. They all gave us hugs. The Pastor introduced us to everyone and we had to stand up. I was so impressed by the warmth and love in the church - not just toward me but between the people in the congregation.

The choir's singing was so beautiful. I am as stiff of a northern European as it comes, but even I was sort of swinging ( a tiny little bit).

The Pastor's sermon was very direct. It was on II Corinthians 10: 3-6

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

He said you cannot be a spiritual warrior if you are not first a great worshipper. And worship isn't just what goes on at church on Sunday, you should worship Monday to Saturday. He said, "Turn your house into a sanctuary. Turn your car into a sanctuary." He reminded us to always be looking around for opportunities to serve God. It was such a good reminder that we have just one life, and our relationship with Christ is the only thing that matters.

For communion, they had about two groups of 30 men and 30 women to serve it. The women all wore white outfits, the men wore matching white ties. They all put on white gloves too. I think that's traditional in Baptist churches.

The choir sang as we made our way out. I noticed the most adorable little girl who was dancing along all by herself. She captured the rhythm perfectly.

So we chatted with several people afterward and then made our way home but I actually felt like we had already come home.