I love after-service chatter. It's not that I don't enjoy the sermon; it's just that congregating around the fellowship "pot" following our formal worship time blends everything together. We'd heard the message of demonstrating love and unity to those in our local fellowship and this post-service immersion provides a kick-start for the week. We'd also been exhorted to put our faith into practice throughout the coming seven days. Asking for support, communicating a victory or confessing a struggle with some issue - steaming cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate in hand - strengthens the heart and enhances one's resolve to face the challenges of everyday life. I particularly enjoyed this morning's chit-chit with friends and visitors.
I watched as an older lady in our congregation spent time visiting with a soon-to-be mom. Across the room a few guys conversed with a visiting gentleman, probably a few years older than they are. In another section of the building a group of ladies laughed, their corporate joie de vivre infecting the rest of us. I was blessed to introduce long-standing friends to our new friends who were visiting.
What really caught my attention, however, was the cadence and melody of diverse tongues: snatches of German conversation, English enriched by several different accents and the excitement of a visitor who'd just been introduced to a regular attendee. They both were from the Netherlands and the Dutch flowed freely. On occasion the presence of foreign exchange students adds garnishes of Korean, Japanese and Spanish. Such rich conversing, this language of fellowship!
"Then were our mouths filled with laughter, and our tongues with singing. Then they said among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us! We are glad!"
God blesses as we practise heaven's language here on earth.
