Sunday thoughts

This morning I went to visit a church plant. I really enjoyed it, and I would love to be a part of a church that's just getting off of the ground. This church just started meeting last month.

After church, these older women invited me to go out to eat with them at Meditteranean restaurant across the street. They were probably in their late 50's, early 60's. It was also their first time visiting the church, and it was my first time to meet them. It was an interesting meal, and they were very nice women. They talked about their dating lives (they were all widowed), and they asked me how mine was going. What could I say?

Then they talked about their houses and families and the troubles they are having with rebuilding. They were amazed that people who didn't have to live in New Orleans would actually move here. Then they remembered they I had recently moved to New Orleans, and they really wanted to know why. Again, what could I say except that God had a hand in it somehow.

Despite our lack of commonalities, I had a really good lunch with those women, and I was so excited to actually get to hang out with the natives with thick accents. They were wonderful women, and they made me feel welcome.

I go to a Spanish speaking church on Sunday nights partly because I want to practice my Spanish and partly because I just really like it. This church is amazing, and it's so much fun. I've been going there for a couple of months now, and it's also the place where I teach English on Thursday nights.

Tonight we had the Lord's supper, and it reminded me of something that has been revealed to me in the past couple of days. Do you ever wonder what that fruit tasted like that Eve took from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? The serpant told her to take and eat it, and she did because she saw it was good for food.

Tonight we had the Lord's supper at church, and when we take it, the pastor always quotes Jesus who said "Take and eat" It's interesting how we were plunged into death by that same phrase that the serpant said to Eve. But it's also interesting how we are redeemed by that same phrase. Jesus said to "Take and Eat" of the bread and drink of the fruit of the vine because it is his body that was broken and his blood that was shed for us to save us from the sin that keeps us captive to death. But the Lord's Supper is a symbol of the reversal of Satan's deception. When we take and eat of the body of Jesus, we are taking part in the redemption that takes away our captivity to death. How cool is that?

We like to blame Eve for this situation that we live in today, but when you think about it, it could very well have been me who made the same mistake. I have been deceived by the devil to do things that I knew I shouldn't, so who am I to blame Eve for sin in the world. If it hadn't been her, it could have been me. But we are redeemed from our fall through Jesus Christ if we just obey Him take and eat of his body, death, and resurrection. I like that.