Bibles in Worship

Today I worshipped in a very small church just up the road a piece from here.  It takes about ten minutes to leave the farm, crosss the river, and get in the door.  At one time I preached there for a little more than four years.  I was asked to fill in for a pastor who was having surgery and it ended up being several years before my time was done.  I go back now and again, as I did today, not to be recongized as a former pastor, but to share in the life of a community of people who blessed me far more than I could ever have blessed them.  

I like going because they make me feel that they regard me as one of them.  The worship is simple since there are usually less than ten folks in the pews.  The young preacher leads the music with his guitar.  There is no glitz and lights and sound effects, but it is as real as worship can be.  I know there are bigger churches where things are done with more precision and planning, but this place up the road feels more like church than the places I have been along the journey of my own ministry.    

The small church cannot do things like the larger megachurch, but the small church is where we can connect with a caring community that will stand with us through the rough places in life as well as share with us in the moments of celebration.  I noticed today the preacher had people opening their Bibles and using them througout the sermon in such a way that it seemed the natural thing to do.  I used a pew Bible since I did not bring one, but next time I will take my own.  It used to be the thing for folks to take their Bibles to church, but we have gotten out of the habit of doing so.  I think on my next trip across the river I will take mine.