Community Thanksgiving Service

Last night, I spoke at the community thanksgiving service. It was actually well attended. It was an interesting service. Brad Brown, a local young (early 20's?) man, led the congregational singing of "I'll Fly Away," and other upbeat choruses. He plays piano like Jerry Lee Lewis (seriously), just bangs it out and appears to feel it at his core. Four or five others sang specials of various kinds.

I was pretty nervous speaking to this large a crowd, especially knowing how diverse it was. I had planned to use a clip from Astronaut Farmer, but as the singing progressed, I thought "Not the right crowd for it." So I skipped it.

My sermon was "When did we stop believing that Jesus came to change the world." People listened. I can at least tell you that. When I was done, I went and sat with my family in the back. As people came out on my side, they shook my hand. That wasn't my intention. It will be interesting to see if I get any more feedback. One of my wife's fellow math teachers was there because "he had never heard me speak." I thought that was an interesting comment.

Along my "weird" post, I think that sermon message is one that needs to be heard and it is the one God wants me to speak whenever possible. So I did. But Danelle made me wear a tie. It may have lost it's effectiveness.