Our second Sabbath

I imagine things around here will begin to slow down soon as we settle in some more and the daily and weekly routines take hold. And as a result, I think these updates will also become less frequent. After all, there's only so much that can be written about daily routines without become rather repetitive.

Today, we spent our second Sabbath here. There were about eleven of us altogether during the worship time. I spoke about the mist and clouds, and how God spoke to me through them this week. i forgot to turn on the voice recorder, so there won't be an audio this week. I have the sermon notes for anyone who is interested.

Briefly, I talked about how I saw some of how God works with us and the rest of creation in the mist and clouds. The fundamentals remain the same -- H2O for water, and God's character never changes. But how the clouds and mist constantly move, change and wrap around things is similar to how God's approach varies depending on individuals and circumstances. And as clouds and mist never force things they encounter to change, God, too, never forces his will.

And then I talked about how God is often depicted as being in a cloud, or accompanied by a cloud. The pillar of cloud during the Exodus; the cloud that filled the Temple during Solomon's dedication; how Jesus will return in the clouds; etc. And I spoke about the rainbow and the promise of salvation that it ultimately points to - the rainbow that surrounds God's throne.

Ultimately, what I discovered this week is that clouds can be a reminder of God's constant presence in this world and in our lives. A very good one in a place like Petersburg where clouds seem more abundant than sun.

Ironically, today we had quite a bit of sun, particularly in the morning hours while I was talking about the clouds. In the afternoon we had quite a few episodes of squalls coming down followed by sun breaks. The weather turned a bit chillier last night, with temps coming down into the 40's and rising just barely above 50 today.

We had lunch with the Herbrandsons and Laurean, who is a blind lady and attends faithfully and always has a smile. I think many of us who have things much better would do well to learn a bit about keeping our spirits up from people like Laurean.

Starting tonight and for the next week, we are opening up the church each evening for a week of prayer. I am hoping there will be members coming by -- if not for all evenings, at least some of them. Tualatin church, in recent years, has been a pretty good training ground for low expectations. I won't be terribly disappointed if no one shows up.