The beachside church is the place I have intermittently been attending down here over my past visits. Now that I am here, I have gone the past couple Sundays.
Their service is very modern compared to the country church I attend in Liberty, yet I have found myself drawn toward coming back each Sunday.
The service begins each Sunday with music and I would liken the "band" to Coldplay. The stage they have created is incredibly beautiful; dark with hanging antique lightbulbs and varied lamps.
I'm not sure who the director of music is, but young, hip, with what looks like a $90 haircut. All the guys who play with him follow suit.
Yesterday, the ending song had the verses, "Holy, Holy, Holy. God in three names. Blessed trinity"
This morning in my early thoughts, I was meditating on that. God in three names. My church upbringing lets me know: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Its interesting for me to consider these three elements of my faith. I think oftentimes people think of Christianity and they visualize a dying, bleeding Jesus hanging from the cross. Not pretty, not hopeful. Yes, this is the deciding factor that separates, Christians from others, yet this is only one element.
Yesterdays song service was a true representation of the Holy Spirit. I was once again, like I am in so many services moved to tears. Of course, like I said the music is pretty amazing, but as I looked around at all the people singing along and the hands I saw raising in the air, I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by emotion. I always almost sort of laughed at people who would raise their arms in church as a child. My pessimistic, sarcastic teenage self found this to be tacky and generally "south". Yesterday, I found a new understanding of what this is.
These people were so moved by the holy spirit, by the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost that they lifted their hands up to him in order to reach closer. Its kind of like Mick Jagger singing "Shine a Light" in a sense.
When the lights came up for the sermon the pastor made comment on our praise/song time. He said in his casual way, "well that was... moving. You know this doesn't happen every Sunday. This really oftentimes is about what we bring to this spot. It doesn't happen like this every Sunday and even not in each service this morning."
I felt so moved by the visual of seeing people lifting their hands up yesterday, not only because I understand what that means to want to be closer to God, but to see others experiencing it just brought tears to my eyes.
Prayer has been on my mind lately. What it means to pray. How to pray. What to bring to God.
The pastor spoke about prayer for a bit yesterday. He took me to scripture, Ephesians, Acts, I John. One of the scriptures that brought me back was "ask for whatever it is that you want, in the name of the Father, and I will give it to you." This concept was beyond comprehension for me at the time I first heard it. Yet, as time goes by, I find it to reign true.
God does give what we ask for. The only thing required is to ask.
This morning with my early thoughts, I traveled back to a prayer I repeated for many months. "Lord take this away from me." It was at the time a prayer of desperation. Not fully even understanding what I was asking for. Today, I can solidly confirm that prayer was answered.
When I think about the trinity, I think of a new prayer. It relates to faith.
I find my mind so tempted to travel back lately. To look in the rearview and rewind. Today my prayer is not a Zen "live in the moment" prayer, but one that asks me to look forward. Almost a fast forward button replaced by a rewind. I think it is so easy for us to look back. We have a reference point. But to look forward proves more difficult. We don't have a reference, the only symbol can be a calendar. But how do we look forward when we have no idea what it is we are focusing upon?
This is my prayer today. To allow faith and my acknowledgement of all that God is to give my mind the capability to open itself toward forward.