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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 4, NUMBER 38, SEPTEMBER 19, 2004 HOLD ON A MINUTE! Last Lord’s Day evening, before I got up to preach, I was sitting in the padded pew, wiping my brow with a handkerchief , thinking “Man, it is hot in here.” I believe I was even trying to let Eric know how I was feeling by telepathy, some how transferring my complaint across the aisle to him. He didn’t get the message so I guess I am going to have to work on that. More to the point, after services were over I got to thinking about being a little warm and a little uncomfortable in services and letting that bother me even for one little minute. You know what? I was ashamed. I got to thinking about our early, first century brothers and sisters in Christ, many of whom were forced to flee from their homes because of persecution – and I was worried about being a little bit warm. I got to thinking about different things that I had read in the past about the worship of the earliest Christians. For instance, in the History of the Christian Church, by Philip Schaff, we find in Vol. 2, page 199, “Let us glance first at the places of public worship. Until about the close of the second century the Christians held their worship mostly in private homes, or in desert places, at the graves of martyrs, and in the crypts of the catacombs. This arose from their poverty, their oppressed and outlawed condition…” That’s not all. I got to thinking about some of the church buildings in which I have held meetings that were no where near as comfortable as the building we have here. I thought about the country buildings in which many of the older saints here attended while they were growing up. There was no air conditioning and many of them were heated by one stove that sat in the middle of the floor. I thought of the brethren in Rome, Italy, who meet in a common room in what we would call a slum. I thought of the brethren in Ireland who met in a mobile home until that was vandalized because of prejudice and persecution. I thought of the brethren in China who must meet surreptitiously because the open practice of their faith would cause them to be arrested. I thought of the brethren in the India who meet in some cases in conditions that we would view as deplorable. For that matter, I thought of brethren in the United States who meet in little rented rooms, sometimes even in a motel, just a handful of people, but they faithfully do it, carrying the bread, fruit of the vine, and song books back and forth from their homes to those rooms every week. Yet, there I was, complaining about NOTHING! We are so blessed, and I am so thankful for all of it. At the same time I realize and appreciate that there are a lot of our brethren not so blessed as far as a place to meet and the comforts thereof. I am resolved not to utter a single complaint about being hot or cold in the church building again. (I may just mention it to Vicky). I resolve to appreciate the carpet and those padded pews, the color of the walls and the tile (which I now know how hard it is to put down). I resolve to appreciate the lights, the fans, the drinking fountain and all of the other authorized amenities that make our coming together so comfortable and so easy. I know that in my prayers I need to pray for help to appreciate and not to complain. Greg Litmer The following was submitted by Michelle Woolf for the benefit of the children and for us all. I think it is great! God in heaven, I
am young and don’t I pray for Mom and
Dad, God, that you Help me, dear
Lord, to understand my parents. Help me, God, when
I become stubborn and Put in my heart
the respect and consideration To this short work I say, Amen! If events unfold in the natural order of things, the time will come when we will all lose our parents. I know what that is like. Young people, and all those adults who still have their parents – love them, appreciate them, respect them, hug them, and try not to let a day go by without expressing your feelings to them in some way. G. L. |