Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Today produced another wonderful service in my congregation. The sun occassionally peeked from behind the water hovering in the sky and all the birds were singing pretty lively and loudly. After rising and arriving at the church, I led my praise team to join in the noise. We struck an immaculate tone in keeping with the theme of celebrations for today, singing two numbers rather than the usual five or six, to begin a service slightly different than usual.

You see, the Pastor, along with his son and daughter, my brother Daniel and two other members of the congregation are in Macedonia at this time until the 1st of April carrying out a mission to bring understanding of doctrine to the rather new Pastors and the Christian church there. The Orthodox Catholic Church has dominated that country for hundreds of years and their thinking is constricted by such things as praying to the Saints and using rituals to secure blessing and put off curses. The Pastor we have been working with over the past year is very much against these religious practices, is sound and humble. My mother and I met him on the first trip to Macedonia when we scouted the grounds in preparation for the establishment of an on going ministry there. Now we support several pastors and some Bible School students.

Being Pastor George is out of the country continuing this outreach, his wife, Pastor Jill, officiated thismorning, and a special singer, Todd Uptdahl, performed a bit of an Easter concert with intemittent pieces of a message connecting the songs. The sermon came from his own recent experience of forgiving himself and led to a poignant climax restating and reawakening the knowledge of why we celebrate this wonderous day. Today brought about the first service in a while in which I was able to sit and enjoy anothers' musical performance rather than being the main performer, which I do really enjoy. But a break from weekly routine is nice as well. :)

As I sat on the front pew listening to the words, I found that they all had such palatable meaning, though I may have heard the song a hundred times before. Songs of forgivness, hope and optimism. Songs of melancholy and upbeat lyrical tunes celebrating the better parts of living this life. The western-toned melodies played clearly through the air and the bass-driven choruses rumbled through the creaky wood seating, physically giving you the impression of riding over a smooth, country, dirt road. Immutable joy.

During our sound check before service, Todd asked me to sing the ending song, How Great is Our God, with him. I'd never attempted that number before, but concluded that the tune was familiar enough in my own head and the words would be on a stand in the center of the stage, prompting me to agree and sing. The contrast of our voices paralleled in the sound system was surprising and, though we sung no harmonies to the melody, rendered a diverse tone reflective of harmonic riffs and low notes in concomitance. Anyway, it sounded good. Really good.

A wonderful celebration. Now I'm just veggin' out. I'll see ya around!

Andrew R. M. Hanson