Day 2: Part 1 (Worship)

Well, after a late night last night, it was an early AM!


This is the room in which we are eating.

It is ALSO their fellowship hall. And Sunday School room. So, we needed to have it cleaned BEFORE we went to worship ... at 8:30AM! We hustled to be ready and attended worship where the Rev. Dr. John Bell was the guest speaker. 

Yeah, not the greatest picture.

John Bell is a native of Scotland who lives as part of the Iona Community, which produces music and liturgies for churches.  Besides speaking with lovely brogue, he's a great (and witty) speaker. The gist of this morning's sermon was an exhortation of sorts to not be "timid" about claiming to be born again of water and spirit--awesome sermon on baptismal identity!


A number of us then attended his Sunday School class about the Psalms, where he gave us new ways to look at some difficult psalms.  Go read Psalm 88--it's OK; I'll wait. 


He talked about how the Psalms teach us to the words to pray (both rejoicing and lamenting) but also allow us a glimpse into the experience of others that we may not have ourselves. AND they also teach us that doubt and questions and anger at God are not all bad. In fact, his summation of Psalm 88 was this: Would someone go through the trouble of saying all these things if he/she didn't believe God was listening? So even in the mist of all the anger, there still is the seed of faith. And that's all God needs--a tiny seed. 


After Sunday School, a group headed out to the Mammoth Caves for a little exploring. Another group headed out to see the Grand Ole Opry. Yet another group went to see a steam engine of some sort. (I went to church again--I know, I'm a nerd.)


So right now, all those who have traveled around are heading home and those of us who are hear are chilling out or doing homework. The site leaders currently are out scoping out the work that will begin tomorrow but will return for dinner at 6:00p. We'll get to meet the folks from the other group who is here for the week, and hopefully Ann & Larry will be here for that!


Tonight we gather for a meeting where we'll find out what we'll be doing at the work sites for the week. We'll share worship together, and hopefully have an early night! I'll be back later to update you with how the meeting went!


Oh, here are a few pictures of the church I took this afternoon:

Flikr is slowly uploading more photos. I'll post a link when it's finished. Enjoy!