Christ is present in it all if we just open our eyes to see him!Jim related how he and Pam had been away for a short break in Norfolk and had travelled a small distance by bus to return after a four mile walk along the beach. The bus can be mechanically lowered and the driver used this feature to help a woman with a child in a buggy, with the bus lowered she was able to board the vehicle much more easily. There was even a space set aside for the buggy so that everything was convenient, no need to unstrap the child, fold the buggy, and stow it away.
We thought how our outreach is sometimes less straightforward than it might be. It's as if we are using an old-fashioned bus instead of a fully-featured new bus. There are several steps involved instead of everything working naturally and conveniently to help those who want to travel with us.
Chris thought of our friends Peter and Paul (good names, they're both there in the Bible!) Both these friends have been in hospital recently. Both of them have used their stay as an opportunity to speak to other patients about Jesus. They have encouraged others and are now expecting several to come to one church meeting or another. We should all be this open and natural in our sharing!
Jim also mentioned spending some time in the city of Norwich and visiting the Cathedral where the architecture, carvings and furnishings almost all pointed to Christ.
For the rest of the evening we watched the DVD of Wolfgang Simson at the 2008 House Church Conference in Dallas. Jim enjoyed it as much as I have done! In his talk Wolf expresses the important view that we need to be a part of the whole. We cannot afford to be just another denomination, there is only one church and we are part of it so we must live and work together with all the believers where we live. We live to serve Christ, not ourselves.
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