Dear Grace Family,
It’s time to get your pastels and seersucker out! I want to remind you of a few things as we head into the weekend. First, please remember we have a service Friday at 12:15 that will last right at 30 minutes, for those on lunch break. We will keep the traditional slate of hymns singing “Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed” to begin and “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” to finish. We’ll be in Psalm 88 for the teaching portion of the service. Psalm 88 stands out as the Psalm that ends without hope. How appropriate for the occasion?! Second, please remember we will NOT have Sunday school this week. I want everyone to have ample time at home with family and not be in a rush to get out the door. Third, I want to make a few comments on song selections for this Sunday. We are singing “The Strife is O’er, The Battle Done” on Sunday morning. It’s a familiar tune to me as our church sang it every year growing up, yet even I get stumped at the very beginning with some alleluias that precede the first verse. If we’ll sing with an ear on the choir through these, we’ll be ready to jump into the first verse with gusto. The lyrics are powerful, and the tune matches them nicely. In the same vein, we are singing Psalm 16:8-11 in evening worship on Sunday night to a tune that will be new to nearly all of us, but it is a simple tune. Please don’t let that put a damper on your enthusiasm as it’s always a joyous occasion when we can sing God’s word together. If you need some extra motivation to get you excited about Psalm singing, go on YouTube and type “Free Church of Scotland psalm singing” into the search line (and if you really want a treat type in “Gaelic Psalm singing” why you’re there). Fourth, we’ll have BBQ and all the fixins on Sunday night after our 5:30 evening worship service. My hunch is that it’ll be way too wet to take tables and chairs outside, without either tearing up the grass or tearing up the floors when we bring them back in. We’ll have a better idea of that by Sunday morning and will let you know then whether or not you need to bring chairs. What you do need to bring Sunday night, either way, is a dessert. Y’all haven’t let me down on this yet, and I’m counting on this time being the same way. Enjoy your time together with family this weekend. I look forward to seeing y’all on the Lord’s Day!
Humbly yours,
Seth