This Sunday I headed out to St. Augustine’s… scratch that. My cousin, Nick, just called and asked if we wanted to go to the Akron Baptist Temple with him. What can I say? I’m a sucker for spur of the moment fun. So off I went!
This Sunday my travelling companion was my good friend and roommate, Jerome. The guy you would definitely want on your team in case of a Zombie Apocolypse, for his natural living skills and penchance for adventure (note: picture at right is from his Facebook page. Oh yeah!).
I have actually been to ABT a couple of times before and not only does my cousin and his wife attend, a very awesome local band named Chasing Chariots attends there as well (no, they aren’t paying me for this plug. But if they want to, I will take the money). All very cool people.
They normally have two services which run simultaneously. One service takes place in the main sanctuary and has your traditional hymns whereas the other service, called The Bridge, plays Christian rock worship songs. After the worship, they both come together (via big screen for The Bridge) for the pastor’s sermon.
However, this Sunday was different. ABT was celebrating its 75th anniversary (last church I went to was celebrating a big event as well…strange). The mayor of Akron, Don Plusquellic, opened up with some kind words to the congregation and proclaimed May 17th as “Akron Baptist Temple Day” (note: another strange coincidence is that this was the first of two official days I saw proclaimed yesterday. The city of Wadsworth proclaimed the day as Andrew Gipson Day, my cousin, for his Eagle Scout achievement…again, strange). And instead of their regular pastor speaking, they had a guest speaker come in. So really, I didn’t get the “real” ABT experience. Crap.
Lucky for me, the guest speaker was awesome. His sermon centered around Caleb, one of the 12 spies from the Old Testament who were sent to spy out the promised land ahead of the rest of Israelites. He was one of two (the other being Joshua) who would come back and say that the land was ripe for the taking. The others were too afraid of the enemies they saw. The idea being that while the other spies compared the enemy to themselves, Caleb and Joshua compared them to God. What a great thought to have when those big life problems come at you. Especially for a particular wanderer who is looking for that right place to call home. . . uh, not me. A friend of mine. :)
Unfortunately, this really isn't a great review of the church. First of all, it was a Very Special Edition of ABT and I attended with my cousin, who of course, was very friendly to me. To get a real feel I'll need to attend on a Sunday when I know they're not looking for me. You know, ninja style.
On a personal note, my spiritual and physical discipline of late has sucked. One of the reasons for my journey is to develop my spiritual self. Same with the physical. I've been uber lethargic! I mean, I'm not trying to have the strength of Samson and the spiritual power to call down thunder bolts and lightning (very very frightening!). I just want to be able to run without passing out before I get to the end of the block and do a bible study a couple of times a week.
I just need to make it a habit. I wish the bible was more addictive. Cigarettes are pretty addicting. Maybe if they laced the pages with nicotine or something (note: call Gideons with marketing idea).
Much love!
Rev.
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