In the church that I grew up in, most Sundays our pastor would have an object lesson for the children before dismissing them. My dad would often say that he got more from the children’s lesson than the long-winded sermons! Jesus communicated in parables: object lessons. Prophets would often act out the messages that they were to give. (Think of Ezekiel laying on his side for 430 days, and Agabus binding Paul’s hands.) This past Sunday, the Lord had a message for our church and brought an object lesson to us. We saw acted out what the Lord is doing.
For those of you who were at church last Sunday, or who watched online, you might have been rather surprised or even shocked when our own Wutem ran down the aisle with a joyful scream and then ran into the hallway.
She did what?
Yes indeed, we had a lady running down the aisle, screaming with joy in our service! This bears explanation. Two weeks ago, at Sharon and Dan’s home group, Wutem had an encounter with Jesus. Wutem saw herself as the Samaritan woman at the well and Jesus spoke to her and said,
“Run to the village!”
It was a commissioning and with it came an outpouring of the Spirit in an explosion of energy and joy, so much so, that she began to cry out in joy and run around the room. This past Sunday, Sharon and Wutem were recounting the encounter to us at church, and after Sharon described what had happened, Wutem again felt this rush of energy and joy and ran down the aisleway, then out into the hall as she screamed out in joy.
It was a sign. Signs are not the destination. (We don’t encourage people to run around our sanctuary and scream!) Signs carry a message. And some signs come with exclamation marks in order to get our attention.
The Lord is speaking with exclamation marks to our community.
Go to the lost!
Go with joy!
Go with energy!
Go now!
Yes Lord, we hear you. Help us to obey.
