Powerful message!

Hola amigos, and I hope everyone is well. Marilyn, I enjoyed reading your post and viewing the accompanying picture.

I know that we are the "WAG", but my thoughts today center primarily on the sermon. Aren't the sermon and service inextricably intertwined?

I've thought a lot over the years about the balance in worship service between "light" and "heavy" -- serious and somber, heady and joyful, joy and sorrow, reverence and relaxation, etc. We've talked about this a lot in our meetings. And, in the past, a perceived imbalance in this has been the source of much personal frustration with the church.

Today, I thought, had an excellent balance between the two extremes. Mark's sermon was direct, hard-hitting, to the point, and meaningful. It had me thinking and praying hard about how the message of Galatians impacts my life. Likewise, it had the same effect on the two people around me (my wife and a 19 year old).

At the same time, I laughed a lot during the service and sermon. I didn't feel entertained, just relaxed and enjoying it. The humor and lightness didn't seem "programmed" or designed to loosen the crowd up; it came across as a natural reflection of Nat and Mark's relaxedness up front. (For example, Nat had that little background ditty going while the kids were taking an hour to leave the stage. Also, during the sermon, Mark said a number of unobtrusively funny things.)
None of this took away from the reverence and focus on God. Yeah!! I was so psyched, and I hope we can pursue this effective balance, avoiding straying to either extreme.

See you guys soon I hope,
Walker