Morning by morning new mercies I see*

by chuckofish

My weekends seem busy, I think, because my weekdays are so quiet. But the lazy days of summer are coming to an end. My calendar is filling up (relatively speaking).

I went to a double funeral on Friday at my old church–for a devoted married couple who had died within weeks of each other. I mostly knew Ron who was 93 years old, a retired army major who had served in Korea, Germany and two tours in Vietnam. He was awarded two Bronze Stars and many other commendations and badges. He was also a devoted churchman who served as our Senior Warden more than once. He gave the blessing at the boy’s Eagle Scout court of honor and also before dinner at his wedding reception. He was a fixture in our life for 25 years at Grace Church. I thought it was great that all three scripture readings contained a military reference: Exodus 17:8b-11; Ephesians 6:10-17; Matthew 8: 5-10, 13.

Later in the day I celebrated daughter #1’s birthday with the boy and his family at her house.

Mr. Smith kind of lost his mind over the excitement of having everyone in his house…

…but we all had fun and Dewey’s pizza!

Saturday morning I went to a DAR meeting–my first as the chapter chaplain! Daughter #1 and I went to our favorite winery in Hillsboro afterwards (as is our tradish) for a much-needed refreshment.

It was lovely to sit in the sunshine and listen to live music and drink the local wine.

On Sunday I got up and met the boy and the twins at church. We are back on the fall schedule. We had a baptism–the Assistant Pastor’s son, Asa Keller (named after guess who)–and that was fun. I love when the whole congregation sings “Jesus Loves Me” as the pastor carries the baby up and down the middle aisle. The Assistant Pastor got a little weepy quoting I Kings 15:9-24: “The heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days.”

We heard a good sermon by our Senior Pastor on I Corinthians1:1-9–wonderful exegesis on the “Who do you think you are?” theme. The congregation sang with verve and vigor and I felt joyful. Then we all went to Sunday School. I chose the “Union with Christ” class taught by a Covenant Seminary professor. It was so good! I love being in a class where the teacher assumes an intelligent audience who is there to learn. Woohoo! What a treat.

Have a great Monday!

Great is thy faithfulness,
Great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hast provided;
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord unto me.

*Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923