I wondered what happened to my faith and my fervor and my absolute belief in the Bible and the existence of God and heaven. I wondered when everything got so messed up for me, and why I have such ambivalence to the idea of putting on some nice pants and going to church on Sunday.
The church family's little boy spilled some rice, and the young man handed them his extra napkins.
I wonder if he'll ever know how much his actions spoke to me this Sunday.
*****
I am reminded of this verse that I think speaks so clearly to Amy's essay:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
If we have not love, we have nothing. Feel God's love for you. Revel in it. Then you can't help but spill it out on to others, like the man in Amy's post.
I love the way she wrote about her experience. If someone encountered you at a restaurant on a Sunday afternoon, what might their impression be?
x-posted from my personal blog
1 comment:
Wow, that was beautiful.
My parents also took my siblings and I out to eat after church. Our favorite spot was a locally-owned mexican restaurant that served the most delicious fried ice cream I've ever had the pleasure of eating.
Most people at our church didn't dress up on Sundays, but I can relate to Amy's experiences as a child who honestly worried about the state of other people's souls. I worried about that as well, to the point of tears on a few occasions.
When I was older, I worked in a restaurant for about a year hostessing and dishing up ice cream sundaes. Too many of my waitress-friends learned to dread Sundays, as that was the day that large church groups would come in, demand impeccable service, and then leave a really horrible tip (i.e. $2-3 for a group of 6-8 adults).
And now I'm craving fried ice cream. :P
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