: now that was a great sunday, if you ask me :

... I am sitting at my computer, obviously, first thing Monday morning, but still thinking about yesterday's service. It always seems to be a juggling act to include all the great things happening around SBF these days ... so yesterday we captured worship, Communion, John Wilton's December 2007 idea with the notes-to-self, an update from Marco, and Dennis' challenging conclusion to our series on Haggai, plus a challenging introduction to the CORE STRENGTH series starting next week.

... speaking of John Wilton? Nina, Dennis and I invited him back for a coffee last week, so he joined us for old time's sake on Thursday morning. Here is a quick snapshot I took of the SBF staff team 2007-2008.

And here is a snapshot of John's favourite liquid refreshment ( medium latte from Fresh Cup down at the corner ). He was known to have referred to the Fresh Cup as his second office while around SBF. Of course, presentation looks better when down at Fresh Cup Roastery, as something is lost in translation when a really great latte is ordered to go, but I assume it tasted just as great.

But what hit me as we concluded the worship service yesterday, before heading downstairs for our monthly Communion Sunday fellowship potlunch was the last verse of Shout to the North as Dave and Julie led us ... "rise up church with broken wings, fill this place with songs again, of our God who reigns on high, by His grace again we'll fly" ... coming on the heels of verse three ... "we've been through fire we've been through rain, we've been refined by the power of his name, we've fallen deeper in love with you, you've burned the truth on our lips" ...

Just seems to me like it was a great day all around. When it came time to come forward for Communion people were on their feet in a flash. When Marco shared the exciting things, and the challenging things, about their ministry, you could have heard a pin drop. When Dennis offered to meet with some men for a time of discipleship, half a dozen tracked him down over lunch. But the clincher, for me, was the amazing appropriateness of those last two verses ... especially after Dennis' challenge to SBF to be a witness on the Peninsula.

dlc