Summer Church

I haven’t been going to church this summer. It’s too hot and humid. My tolerance for humidity has significantly decreased from last year to this due to MS related complications. When it’s humid I can barely put one foot in front of the other. It’s hard enough as it is. So when I told my doctor about how I feel when I go to my wonderful yet old and non-air conditioned church, she told me I’d be wise to not go in the summer.

I’m taking her advice.

But it still feels weird on a Sunday after so many missed weeks to not be going. I feel some guilt. I miss the community. I miss the worship time.

So I’ve decided to try and worship in a different way on Sundays. This morning I got up early as usual, got on my hand bike, rode down into Taylor Creek, sat on a bench near a rustling river, took in the scenery and the gentle breeze, pulled out my iphone, and prayed.

“Pulled out your iphone?” you might ask. “That isn’t usually on the list of tranquil things to do while trying to enjoy and take in the wonder of God’s creation.”

You’re right. But there’s an app! There’s always an app. It’s called ‘Mission St. Clare’. (She’s apparently the patron saint of cyberspace) It has daily morning and evening prayers, readings, and songs. It’s my fave app by far, even better than ‘angry birds’, and I’d highly recommend it for you praying types. And when riding, it’s hard to carry a Bible, prayer book, song book, and journal. But easy to carry a phone. So there’s my rationale and I’m sticking to it.

This morning’s prayers were so comforting. They reminded me yet again that God is God and that I am not. I was reminded that God is with me and always will be. I was comforted by the steadfastness and faithfulness of the God of the universe.

I needed the reminder that God loves me, that She is in control, and that He never changes.

The part about never changing was a crucial reminder to me today. Everything around me is changing. My health is in decline and so I’m doing necessary things to adjust. (I’m learning to drive with hand controls instead of using my legs so we can retrofit our car with those controls. I’m in physio rehab 4 hours per week. We’re renovating the bathroom so as to make it safer for me to shower. I have qualified for wheel trans. I have leg braces. And everything is so crazy expensive in all of these areas it’s bringing great stress on us.) Things at work are changing very quickly and mostly for the better (more on that in a week or so).

Everything around me is changing. It’s hard to even process all that is happening right now.

So today I did in fact go to church. Not the one with 4 walls and great people, but the one at Taylor Creek.
The one where I watched a rabbit hop around me.
The one where I saw squirrels gathering food.
The one where I got to listen to beautiful music made by the many birds all around me.
The one where I got sniffed by the odd unleashed dog (and only one howled and ran away from me very fast after his sniff).
The one where I pulled out my iphone and read some important prayers and scripture passages that reminded me that God is with me every step of the way.

So today was a very good church day indeed.

Benediction (from my app)
‘May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy spirit.”

amen