Rest

How did you spend your weekend celebrating the resurrection? 

We spent ours in Judd’s hometown—Brewton, AL.  It is such a lovely place.  I’ve posted about it many times.  It is a small town where no one ever seems to be in a hurry (which is such a nice reprieve from my everyday life).  Maybe in actuality the locals do feel the same stresses that I feel at home.  But one thing is certain, I am not a native Brewtonian, so when I am there I leave my work, course load, professional and scholastic pressures, and every day stressors at home.

I don’t have any pictures to share for this post because I did not pick up my camera one time while we were there.  Instead, we rested.  It. Was. Nice.

We spent good quality time with Judd’s parents, brother, sister-in-law, and grandmother.  We went to the farm two days in a row.  We all worked on a few tasks; however, it was pleasurable work.  We worked with our hands to make a place that we love and share even better.  We played a little too.  Our time at the farm consisted of boat rides, fishing, sunbathing, watching the dog swim, alligator spotting, rattlesnake spotting and killing, porch swinging, four-wheeler riding, and work that involved firing up the old blue Ford tractor.

On Sunday morning Judd and I attended Easter worship service with his parents at their church.  It is a quaint rural church.  There were eleven people in the choir.  The simplicity of it all was refreshing to my soul.  The congregation does not have the same “amenities” that are found in our Birmingham church. 

They don’t have a state-of the-art sound system, or special lighting, or an orchestra, or a large screen and projector to display the scripture and the words to hymns.  Instead, they have a passionate pastor and a God-fearing congregation.  They sing from actual hymnals while Judd’s mother plays the piano and they read scripture by holding His Word in their own hands.  It’s a no frills way to worship and I LIKED it.  After all, worship, praise, and learning the Gospel are all we are supposed to be there for anyway.

On our drive home to Birmingham I reflected on our weekend and on our worship experience there.  It was a back to the basics time for us.  It was so refreshing to to really hear the sermon without audiovisual distractions, without having to worry about filling out the sermon outline, without having to listen to the pastor’s voice via lapel mic., and without having to squint to see the pastor from a balcony view.  Instead, it was an up close and personal experience.  I was hanging on every word.

I’m not knocking the high-tech outlets that larger churches use to reach their members.  Like I said, our home church has all of those things too.  It was just nice to have a reminder of what is really required to worship:  You and God.

Coincidently, this morning my cousin sent  me today’s Girlfriends in God e-newsletter sponsored by crosswalk.com.  It contained the following prayer.  I felt it was so appropriate for me.  Maybe it will be fitting for you as well.

“Father, forgive me for the arrogance that keeps me on the run, trying to prove my worth. Teach me how to rest in You, Lord. Help me learn how to say “no” to those things that keep me from sitting at Your feet. Give me a hunger and thirst for You that can only be satisfied by time alone with You. I love You, Lord.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.”