I just said to my mom and sister that I had a very good day today. Excellent, in fact. It started with worship, the last Sunday of Advent. We had a guest preacher at FG this morning, Pastor Schaefer's dad, who serves a congregation in Milwaukee. His sermon was about Mary, the mother of the Christ-child. Instead of singing the Song of Simeon after the sermon, we sang The Magnificat. The Order of Service was Divine 1 from the CW Supplement, printed in the folder as they do not yet use the CWS in the pews. The singing and the music is so wonderful in this church building---I could almost melt!
But today no melting was going on,
and, in fact, the contrary was true, due to a problem with the boiler. I was so
glad to have my coat on both during church and Bible study, which took place in
the church basement. If I could have written while wearing my gloves, I would
have tried. The congregation did get extremely wonderful news in the past few days
as a generous donor has allowed them to worship this day entirely debt free!
Wow! That warmed a few hearts if not our hands, and wet a few cheeks in joy.
Alayna, my niece, had gone upstairs to
the school to obtain a Diet Coke for me which did not help to warm me during
the Bible study. Pastor’s dad sat across from Linda and me, as did the new
grade school teacher, Jennifer. We had several good chuckles and solid discussion during the class with him. The study was based on Romans, now at
chapter 8, which talks about how the Holy Spirit knows our hearts and can
express our prayers to the Lord when we cannot put our thoughts together. Also,
the Lord will not allow anything more to happen around us outside His guiding
hand and management. Great comfort in those passages---GREAT comfort!
After the class we came back here
and got things ready for watching the football game. I had a little bite to
tide me over until lunch because I had not eaten anything at church during the
fellowship portion of the morning. We were going to have a buffet of our
leftovers from previous meals but Kerry had also picked up Old Wisconsin brand
Polish sausages which were simply delicious. I managed to squirt some of the
juice from my sausage onto my red sweater but Kerry worked some magic with Dawn
dish soap and cold water, and saved the sweater. Oh my! I was being careful and
yet, it dripped!
Go Pack Go!
A group of us watched the Packer
game, Mom included, and what a grand game it was! The Packers just about shut
out the TN Titans but in the last moments of the games, the Titans managed to
score, the final being 55-7. Mom felt sorry for the poor Titans so got
her wish for them to get a touchdown. The Packers even played their 2nd
string players which is likely how the Titans managed to get the TD they did!
The Titans are the main rivals to
the Jaguars, both teams being formed in the same year. The Jags did not fare as
well as the Packers did today, but at first gave the NE Patriots a run for
their money. Justin was at the game and said I would have been cold there, but
for the most part, it was nice. His seats were in the sun which certainly helps
to keep the chill from the bones.
This might be his last game as a
season ticket holder as his buddies and he decided to invest in the NFL package
from Comcast for next season. Two of the group will be living in the same house
by that time, as Justin will soon be moving in with Ron and Sarah. Their
closing is in January with Justin expecting to be moved out of my place by
February 1. He had better start his packing in earnest now in order to be ready
to go by then!
Anyway--back to our day--aside from
the spot on my sweater, it was a great way to spend my Sunday. Kerry likes to
cook and is making a version of stuffed chicken breasts for our dinner. I did a
little bit of dusting in preparation for the Christmas gathering tomorrow, even
though most of the activity will take place in the community room downstairs. Dusting
the furniture and such at Mom’s is quite a bit different than tackling that
project at my house. One-two-three and I was done. Things are ready for the
festivities!