A Strange Sunday

When Andrew and I arrived at the church on Sunday morning, we attempted to discover who would lead the service that morning.  The Synod Assembly gathered all the pastors from the area, leaving churches to lay leadership.  The bishop recorded a sermon on video, which Jon B planned to show on the screen.  I asked him, "Are you the head honcho today?"

"Nope, just the projector man," he replied.

I had tapped Andrew to substitute for Daniel as Assisting Minister, since Daniel was playing softball out of town.  Doug J, the lector, indicated he would rather not lead the worship.  Very few of Svea's members feel comfortable up front, and even fewer at the last minute!  Pete, obviously, is one, but with his gimpy leg the congregation would be pretty distracted if he were the leader.  I could do it in between leading the praise team, but the congregation can't see me sitting at the piano.  Finally, at 9:25, I informed Andrew that he would read the parts of the pastor as well as the assisting minister.  We prayed, I made an announcement to that effect, and he began.  He rose to the challenge and everything progressed smoothly - until the sermon.

A glitch in the laptop/projector setup caused the audio of the bishop's sermon to be, well, inaudible.  The video worked fine, but since the congregation doesn't have a single lip-reader among us, that didn't do us much good.  I thought furiously, picked up my microphone, and announced to the congregation, "I guess you get a sermon by...me!"  I proceeded to communicate what I've been learning from Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts, and how I've put it into practice.  My heart was pounding and my breathing was shallow for the first minute, but as I realized that I might share all this stuff with any of these members at the coffee table, I settled in and finished in a reasonable amount of time (I think).

After Andrew's beautiful rendition of "Let My Lifesong Sing to You," I asked for prayer requests and led the prayers of the church.  Andrew gave the benediction and we sang the closing song.  Another worship service drew to a close; Andrew and I learned anew that the Lord will empower you to do whatever you need to do.