April 18, 2010

Contents

Morning service

"Amen Is Not the End!"
Nehemiah 9:38; 10:28-29

I have a memory about "choral amens" from my teenage years in church. There would be that occasional, if not too often Sunday, when the music director would lead the choir in a tortuously unending choral amen. Some of you may remember this. It started low and slow…"Ah-a-Ahhhh-Men. Ah-men. Ah-aaaa- men." And just when you hoped in was over, the sopranos and tenors would chime in for their rendition of the same. Then, the bass, baritone and alto section would take up the cause. Then the entire choir would repeat it again with precision harmony. Then…maybe then as the congregation has already peaked toward the platform and stepped into the aisle at least a couple of times thinking, this is the end, the choir gets silent and may or may not say the final Amen. You wait and wait until they do. Amen may not always be the end! That's what I want us to think about this morning, "Amen Is Not The End!"

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Evening service

"Learning Faith By Heart"
John 21:9-19

Have you ever learned anything by heart? Of course you have. Learning something by heart means to repeat it again and again until you have memorized and internalized it. It then becomes embedded in your heart and brain and stored in a memory database for future recall.

When I was a boy scout we memorized the twelve Boy Scout laws; “Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.” These principles have been embedded in my memory for years and have helped to shape my behavior. I learned them by heart.