On Wednesday I sent out an e-mail to our church e-mail list (list of "church family" and "friends of the church") as a promotional- encouraging attendance for this coming Sunday. I know many of you already received it. Sorry for being redundant, but for those who DIDN'T receive this: it's a cute true story and so I thought I would share the exact text of my Wednesday e-mail with you. Hope you like it. Here it is:
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
“MAKE A LITTLE VISIT”
Dear Church Family and Friends,
I have a cute story from the “Pre-Vatican 2” days of the Roman Catholic
Church (pre-1962). The old time Catholic Church had quite a number of
rituals for willing and devout Catholics to perform. One tradition was
that on Holy Thursday (the day Protestants call “Maundy Thursday”)
Catholics were to visit seven churches for prayer and quiet
reflection during the day. There was a special blessing for a person
who made it to all seven churches. For those who lived in a
predominantly Catholic large city like Boston, visiting seven Catholic
Churches on Holy Thursday was relatively easy. In the suburbs where
there was often one (or maybe two) churches per town, finding seven
churches to visit in one day could be challenging.
“Blanche” ( a woman who lived in the neighborhood where I grew up in
Canton) has told the story that she drove around the Stoughton/Brockton
area one Holy Thursday looking for seven churches to visit. In the
midst of her travels, Blanche stopped at a Methodist Church that she
THOUGHT was a Catholic Church. She went to the door and was greeting
by a woman (perhaps the church secretary). Blanche awkwardly told the
woman, “I’d like to make a little visit”.
The Methodist woman led Blanche to the LADIES’ BATHROOM!
I’m telling that story because I hope that this coming Sunday morning,
August 3, 2008, you will, “make a little visit” to First Assembly of
God of Framingham! August is usually a low attendance month, but I’m
trusting God that at our church this Sunday, we’ll actually have a
large attendance and a great service!
For more information, please e-mail me at agframingham@aol.com or revrbaril@aol.com
On Sunday, August 3, “make a little visit”! Worship God, enjoy good fellowship, and you’re welcome to use our rest rooms, too!
BOB BARIL
EMMYS 1970: My World...and Welcome To It
1 year ago
2 comments:
Bob, this comment isn't about your column, but I did want to tell you about some of the comments I received as a result of my letter to the editor about Christian persecution. Many of them were troubling. They compared China to America. One person "things are tough all over." Another one said this is not a Christian nation. Another one implied that the United States using surveillance methods . I worry about people like that. Of course, all comments are written under anonymous names, whereas I use my name. Do you think you might address this subject in a future blog?
Jennie
Jennie,
Regarding your comment about China, whether I will address that issue on a future blog or not, I don't know, but I did receive a recent e-mail forward from Claire Grimes which originated from "Voice of the Martyrs"( which is a wonderful Christian organization) which somewhat addressed the issue of China and the Olympics. I do know China has a deplorable human rights record. Things there are MUCH worse than in America. It IS truly sad that people "don't have a clue". There are literally hundreds of countries where evangelical Christians and others are treated much worse than we could imagine. China's forced abortions policy is absolutely evil and disgusting.
BOB BARIL
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