Attend Traditional Services on a Regular Basis

In spite of it being mostly overcast most of the day, I considered the cooler temps a welcome relief from yesterday’s heat and humidity. Now that we’re slowly approaching the autumnal equinox, I’m finding our daylight hours growing shorter and cooler nighttime temps. Let’s keep our fingers crossed we’ll not be having a frost for several weeks or more to come.

It was an early to office Sunday morning due to my wanting to get my contemplative prayer session completed early enough so I could do a little practicing on my office piano before I had to head over to St. Paul Lutheran to play for their Sunday Services.

My private prayer session went smoothly, and after finished, I sat down at my piano and ran thru all the music I had to play, and by the time I was finished, the hour had arrived for me to head over to their church, and while on my way, I happened to notice the dumpster divers had made yet another mess around that dumpster located next to La James Cosmetology College. Those careless “divers” have absolutely no respect for the world around them, and for sure come tomorrow morning, I’ll be out back picking up the garbage that ended up in my rear lot.

St. Paul had a visiting female minister who came all the way up here from Waverly, and since I’d not met her before, we had a nice chat before I headed up to the gallery. It looks like St. Paul will have various ministers conducting their Services until they can find a permanent replacement for Pastor Matt.

After getting my music arranged in the order of playing, I went back downstairs to visit with a handful of the ladies who were already seated. I did mention having recently spoken to a young man who used to be a regular at their church, but then his career sent him in many directions across the United States. He’s now returned, and since I knew he attended St. Paul in the past, I was quick to mention how much I enjoy the members, as well as the beauty of the interior of their house of worship. I blushed a little when one of the ladies mentioned how thankful she is that I’ve been their ambassador of sorts for promoting their congregation. I thanked her while also adding, “If it wasn’t true, I wouldn’t be telling people.”

The Minister gave a very good sermon by tying into today’s readings the sacrifices those people made who were on the United Airlines flight which they helped to divert from being another national disaster. Most people have forgotten, or possibly didn’t realize that those passengers knew they were going to die, but sacrificed their lives and many others on the ground, by coming together and overpowering those who were flying that airline, just so they wouldn’t be able to complete that final 9/11 act of terror. Having recently read something about it yesterday, today’s words sent a chill thru me.

While I was out working at my little/big project today, my thoughts were centered around the things St. Paul Lutheran could do to increase their membership. I couldn’t help remembering how many people absolutely do not like all the hoopla that goes on in many of the “new age” churches, because they’d rather be in a more traditional setting.
I believe if they’d promote that church in the right fashion, there would be more people in attendance.

What continues to amaze me about their church, is the beauty of their stained-glass windows and their Italian-carved cross of the Risen Christ. Every time I walk past it, I bow in reverence. I reminded the ladies today that I’ve been in a very many churches, and for the first time in my life, I discovered a church depicting the Old Testament Prophets in the windows of the nave that face east, and the New Testament Apostles in the windows facing west. All I can say, is that whomever designed that church, was in great understanding of the Bible in its entirety by making sure there were visual depictions of its key figures.

With that said, I believe St. Paul could easily become a “boutique” Christian church here in our City, and if they could possibly find a permanent pastor who’s able give moving sermons every Sunday, they’d be well on their way to having their church filled every Sunday. Everyone has their religious preferences and I respect that, but I do know there are those who’d rather attend traditional Services on a regular basis. I did mention today that in the future, I may have a line on an aspiring young cellist who’s very much interested in improving his skills, and what better way than to have him accompany me while I’m playing over at their church. I mentioned it to the ladies today and they thought it was a great idea. My dear grandmother used to refer to St. Paul as “The church on the hill.”

After their Services were over, I returned to office to change my clothes and head out to my little/big project and continue on with my stripping of paint and varnish. I couldn’t have been more thankful it wasn’t 90 degrees outside because I would’ve been sweating like a butcher. I did manage to get what I wanted done which made for another four hours well-spent. Slowly but surely I’m getting there, and when it’s finally finished, I’ll be breathing another great sigh of relief.

Before heading home, I stopped at Hy-Vee to pick up a few things and while walking down the meat aisle, I noticed they had whole pork loins on sale for $1.98 per lb. which was a good buy, so I grabbed the last one remaining. If a person has a freezer, it only makes sense to buy in bulk, and especially in these times where our meat prices have been spiking. I was glad to see it came from Hormel up in Austin instead of Smithfield which is Chinese owned. Like I’ve said before, I’m doing everything I can to buy American.

Tonight’s One-liner is: Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.

Joe Chodur

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