LUCY

“and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity.
For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:7-8)

Not long ago I posted an entry on the blog about a very special elderly woman named Claire. This post is about another very special elderly woman named Lucy. I am not going to use her last name here. Lucy is a very humble woman. I’m sure she’d be embarrassed to have me mentioning her on the blog. Lucy’s a Quaker.

One of the benefits I had in attending the meetings and activities of the Framingham Interfaith Clergy Association is that I met a lot of people from many and varied backgrounds. Did I AGREE with all of them? Certainly not! But I learned much from most of them. My first pastor in the Assemblies of God, the Rev. Lloyd Westover, taught that nearly everyone you meet in life has something to teach you. I’ve found that Pastor Westover was right about that.

I don’t know Lucy’s exact age, but I’d guess she’s at least 85. At “F.I.C.A.” (what we called the clergy association) one issue that frequently came up is whether our name was the best since some religious groups do NOT have clergy. Did you know, for instance, that the Christian Science religion has no clergy? That’s also true of the Quakers (officially known as the Society of Friends). Each of those groups sent a lay representative to F.I.C.A. I believe it was somewhere around 1997 or 1998 that Lucy began attending F.I.C.A. as the representative of the Framingham Friends Meeting. Lucy has to be one of the sweetest, gentlest, and kindest people I have ever met. She did serve as F.I.C.A. Secretary for several years. Lucy’s no longer a “regular” at F.I.C.A. The Quakers have sent a couple of other representatives over the past few years. But Lucy’s a fixture at any local special services.

This afternoon I received an unexpected letter in the mail from Lucy. It was a copy of the program for the Community Good Friday Service held at Edwards Congregational Church. Lucy had enclosed a handwritten note saying she thought I might like to see it and that she had missed me being at the Good Friday Service. I must say, THAT note was very special. I was “blown away” that she’d even think of sending me a program and a note saying I was missed. I’ve also been impressed through the years that from time to time Lucy would ask me how my wife Mary Ann was doing in her job at Marian High School or how my daughter Amy was doing out in Missouri in her nursing career. She wasn’t just being polite- you could tell she really MEANT those questions.

Cultures of the past revered their elderly. Unfortunately, our culture tends to treat people over age 75 like little children and pretty much shove them in the back room. We can learn so much from older people like Claire whom I recently wrote about, and like Lucy. Claire is a towering example of unselfish service and sacrifice, and Lucy is a beautiful example of true kindness and thoughtfulness.

Our society makes a lot of extroverted loudmouths. Yes, Morton Downey, Jr. may be deceased, but there are plenty of extroverted loudmouths of his ilk all over the place. I admit that I tend to want to be noticed and I want to be paid attention to. Have I ever acted like an extroverted loudmouth just to try to get noticed, recognized, and respected?

Yes, I have. I’m not proud of that.

I think God is calling me and a lot of other people to be like Lucy...to do the right thing...to be kind and considerate...though most will never show us any appreciation for our kindness and consideration.

May we choose the calling and lifestyle that Our Heavenly Father has ordained for us.

CRAZY EASTER SUNDAY HEADLINE!

“A merry heart does good, like medicine,
But a broken spirit dries the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22 New King James Version)

What a sports headline I read on Easter Sunday morning: “Satan the Savior for Bruins”. That was on page 1 of the sports section of the April 4, 2010 MetroWest Daily News. The story was continued on page 4, where the secondary headline on read, “Satan Leads Bruins to win in OT”.

To appreciate that secondary heading, please be reminded that I (along with a number of other ministers) usually use “OT” in my preaching and teaching notes for “Old Testament”.

“Wow, Satan led the Bruins to a win in the Old Testament?! It must be in an obscure book! Maybe they were a pagan Canaanite tribe?!”

I will admit I’m not much of a hockey fan. I did not know there was a “Satan” on the Boston Bruins team! I learned that his name is: Miroslav Satan

The story is found at:

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/sports/pros_and_colleges/x905414124/Bruins-2-Maple-Leafs-1-OT-Satan-the-savior-for-Bs

Here are some excerpts from the story which may have you laughing as it did me on Easter Sunday morning:

“Satan had both goals for Boston (36-30-12), which has scored just five times in four games.”


“Satan managed to get the puck behind Gustavsson, but it was swept to safety by Phaneuf.”

Yes, Satan led the Bruins to victory on Easter weekend, and the Rex Sox Opening Day, (well, it’s “Opening NIGHT”) game is on Easter Sunday night against the Yankees.

You can’t make this stuff up!

VOLKSWAGEN RISES

DISCLAIMER: After over 25 years as an Assemblies of God minister, I’ve learned that some people become very offended over anything and everything. Please don’t think in this posting that I’m making fun of Jesus Christ rising from the Dead or that I take lightly what the Lord Jesus Christ did for me! Easter is the most special day of the year, and I would be NOTHING without Our Lord, Jesus Christ!
I just couldn’t resist telling this story of an inanimate object “rising from the dead” on Easter weekend!


“And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
And they remembered his words,” (Luke 24:4-8)

People who have been reading my blog for a long time know I can get very sentimental about certain things, especially cars. My late brother Eddie had a turquoise 1971 Ford Thunderbird, for instance. To this day, it’s impossible for me to see an early ‘70s T-Bird at a car show and not get “choked up”. Until very recently I was driving what had been my parents’ 1989 Volkswagen Golf. I remember the first time I saw that new car. It was October of 1989. My friend Ed Duddy and his wife Vikki were up visiting from St. Louis. We went over to my parents’ home in Canton on a Saturday. There in the driveway sat the brand new blue VW. My parents were very excited about the new car and had kept its arrival a secret. They wanted to surprise family and friends. My Dad had previously owned an orange (yes, ORANGE!) 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle. Dad loved Volkswagens. They were cheap and great on gas. He typically bought a 2 or 3 year old VW and would drive it until it was 8-10 years old; then he’d replace the car. He’d bought the ‘74 when it was around 2-3 years old, and he’d driven the car for at least 12 years, so he was overdue to replace it.

What amazed me is that the new blue ‘89 was an automatic transmission model. Dad loved manual shift cars. It turns out he bought the automatic for my mother’s sake. The car was brand new, but he got a really good deal on it because the 1990s were on the dealer’s lot and they were anxious to sell off the new ‘89s they had. THAT was like my Dad, to look for a “deal”, but I was also surprised he’d financed the car. Gene Baril was a guy who believed in paying cash for everything. I don’t think he EVER had a credit card. My Mom had a couple of credit cards and a checking account. Dad was Mr. “Cash Only”. For him to finance a car was unheard of. Dad also thought it was stupid to have air conditioning in a car, and this new VW was equipped with A/C. I have to say, I was struck so funny about the A/C, automatic transmission, and financing that I chuckled about it for the rest of that weekend!

My parents died within 7 weeks of each other in the summer of 2000. One item I inherited was that 1989 Volkswagen Golf. When I got it in the Fall of 2000 it had only 26,000 miles on it! Except for a few small dents my Mom had put in it (her vision was failing and a few times she scraped it against the garage door frame) it was pretty much in “mint” condition. I wasn’t used to such a SMALL car...and it was a 2 door (I prefer 4 door cars). It was a lot of FUN, however! It was like riding around in a go kart! It got great gas mileage. It had a surprisingly good AM/FM radio (alas, no tape player!) which in a VW is called a “Heidleberg Stereo”! When my kids got their licenses, they had fun driving the VW. It was always a fun car for me. When Amy’s friend “Wes” needed an adult to “sponsor” him for his road test, I did that, and Wes got his license in downtown Framingham on a snowy day in the Volkswagen.

No, the VW wasn’t perfect. It did NOT like alternator belts. I lost track of HOW MANY alternator belts I replaced in that car. About every 12-18 months the alternator belt would fall off and the car would have to be towed and repaired. That got to be a real pain, and expensive. It also went through exhaust systems like crazy! I spent a lot of time at Meineke Muffler! In the past 2-3 years, it was looking “ratty”. The headliner had been falling down and I put a bunch of industrial grade staples in it to hold it up. The rear hatch would not stay up on its own when opened and I had pieces of wood to “prop” it open. The blower fan would only work on the highest speed. About 2 years ago, the A/C died and it was going to be so expensive to fix that I did without it.

As the calendars turned to January 1, 2010, I had a strong feeling that I would not own the 1989 VW beyond 2010. Many of you know that the VW lost brakes in downtown Framingham on February 8. I am thankful I was not killed! I had the car towed to my driveway where it sat until April 2. We officially took the VW off the road, canceling the registration and insurance just a few days ago. Last night, a young mechanic named Ryan who loves to fix up and restore old Volkswagens bought the car. He picked it up with a large flatbed truck. My daughter Rachel and I watched the Volkswagen Golf carried away on the truck...almost like a person being taken away by ambulance. Ryan will put new brakes on the car, fix the exhaust system and do some other work. Upon starting it up he also commented that it has a vacuum leak. I wouldn’t have noticed that but he could tell by the sound.

The VW I watched carried up the street last night seemed a far cry from the brand new car in my parents’ driveway in October of 1989. There was a bit of sadness seeing it go. My wife Mary Ann had an apt observation, however - that my father would have been very pleased that a young mechanic was going to fix it up and drive it. That’s true. Dad would have been pleased as punch that this very young guy was going to take care of “his” car and drive it, sparing it from a trip to the junkyard.

So, on Easter weekend, the Volkswagen has risen!

Yeah, it’s a car. Ryan the mechanic will fix it and maybe even drive it for a few years. Eventually, it WILL end up in a junkyard. But for those of us who put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ...one day, we will rise in new bodies and life forevermore! (see I Corinthians 15)

TO TELL OR NOT TO TELL?

“And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.” (Romans 5:16)

“...ye have not, because ye ask not.” (from James 4:2)

This piece may seem totally inappropriate to post on Good Friday. If if offends anybody, I regret that. There’s just something gnawing at me today that I’d love to get some solid Biblical feedback on.

I receive a number of e-mail newsletters, as probably many of you do. One of them is from a Christian institution of higher learning. Specifically, it’s from one of our Assemblies of God institutions of higher learning. (In the U.S. Assemblies of God, we have at least fifteen such “endorsed” schools including a seminary, several colleges, and several universities.) I won’t say WHICH AG school it was, except that it was NOT my alma mater, Central Bible College.

The newsletter featured a prominent piece by the school’s President. The school’s President is probably one of the ten most loved and respected Assemblies of God ministers in the U.S. He states that he tries to only put out major financial appeals once a quarter, and that this is one such appeal. The President writes that he needs at least 4 people to donate at least $50,000. apiece this Spring, along with others donating what they can.

In evangelical Christian circles there IS some controversy about putting out such letters and e-mails. SOME good friends of mine say that it’s very bad to put out such information...that it’s manipulative and smacks of the worst of worldly marketing. The example that’s usually given is George Mueller. George Mueller lived in 19th Century England. George was a devout and praying Christian. He founded a number of orphanages which ran totally on faith. He never put out any financial appeals. He just prayed and donations poured in. Not only did MONEY pour in, but more commonly it was sacks of flour, or bottles of milk, or maybe some fresh killed chickens, or something like that. George Mueller ran a number of orphanages that way for many years never putting out any financial or other appeals.

My question is: Why was George Mueller one in a million? Well, I know there HAVE been a few other ministries that have run totally on faith the same way...but VERY few! My experience is that 98% of churches and para-church ministries depend on financial appeals. If you’ve been a born-again Christian for any length of time, you’ve received (frankly manipulative) fundraising letters from Christian organizations. In some cases, they can get kind of ridiculous, as with the old PTL Television ministry of the 1970s. Every month there would be a sensational letter from them stating they were in a crisis and needed a great financial miracle. And every month, millions of dollars would pour in to them. Well,we all know Jim Bakker went to prison and that all fell apart.

But even the most reputable ministries put out fund-raising letters. They’re usually less sensational than PTL’s used to be, but they definitely ask for money.
Now that I’m no longer pastoring and First Assembly of God of Framingham has closed, I think I can write much more freely about this. Sometimes I was criticized for putting out manipulative fund-raising letters on behalf of the church. I plead guilty. I did put them out. Honestly, they worked. Well, 90% of the time, they worked.

I DID find that if you put out such letters TOO often, they don’t work. You have to have a legitimate need that you can clearly state. You also have to be able to state some legitimate accomplishments of your church's (or para-church organization’s) ministry. Maybe 3 people got saved last month. Maybe a person with a heart condition was miraculously healed at one of your services. Maybe a new family in town got help and direction and wrote you a complimentary e-mail which you draw excerpts from. Put it out there: it works. Just about every time I sent out an “all mailing list” mailing with a heavy fundraising component, two things would happen: ONE is that our attendance would be up for the next couple of Sundays, TWO is that our income would be up for the next couple of Sundays. Then it would drop back to it’s usual level.

“Pastor Bob, the first-century church didn’t do manipulative stuff like that!” some will counter. Actually, they did.

Check out what the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 9. It’s quite manipulative. Paul was raising money from churches in the central Mediterranean area to help the famine victims of the Jerusalem area. In that low tech era, he spent over a year soliciting donations; then he and a group of several others brought the donated money to the church at Jerusalem. Specifically in 2 Corinthians 9, Paul writes to the church at Corinth that he’s been bragging to the Christians of Macedonia about how the church at Corinth was ready to give to the offering a year ago. Now, Paul’s kind of nervous. He’s going to be showing up at Corinth with some Macedonians to pick up their money. He’s afraid the Corinthians will have little or no money to donate and that he (and the Corinthians) will look like fools. He gives them specific instructions about putting money aside for the next several weeks in special offerings so that doesn’t happen. When I think about the modern arm-twisting financial appeals in Christian circles, well, that wasn’t much different.

Honestly, in the last couple of months I was at First Assembly of God of Framingham we desperately needed a financial miracle. I wanted to put out one of the strongest financial appeals I’d EVER put out. Frankly, there were a few people on our mailing list that could have made substantial donations. On the other hand, I did not want to offend some people in our church Membership who probably WOULD have found such an appeal offensive. So, I backed off.

Is the George Mueller approach to fundraising the correct one?
The Jim Bakker approach?
The Apostle Paul approach?
The AG College President approach?

There’s no question that such appeals do offend a number of Christians.
Again, they also work.

On Good Friday, we especially remember that “Jesus paid it all” for our salvation.
Unfortunately, churches and ministries all have mortgage payments, and utility bills, and insurance requirements, etc. etc. That battle between “faith” and “promotion/marketing” can be a tough matter to reconcile.

WHY THE DATE?

“One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.” (Romans 14:5-6)

I’m among a lot of people that can get very confused about the date of Easter. In the “western church” (pretty much Roman Catholic and Protestant) Easter can fall anywhere from March 22 to April 25. Some years (like 2010) the “eastern church” (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc.) celebrates Easter on the same day as the western church, but most years, we don’t. In fact, Jesus Christ was crucified and rose from the dead at Passover time. I’ve often wondered why Easter doesn’t coincide with Passover each year, but it DOESN’T. Some years, Easter and Passover are about a month apart. In 2008, Easter fell on March 23. That just plain seemed SO early! It felt like celebrating Christmas on November 29. There have, in fact, been some icy and snowy Easters in March, and there have been some very summer like Easter dates in April.

A big part of the problem is that we’re dealing with THREE calendars here: The Jewish Calendar, The Julian Calendar, and The Gregorian Calendar. In the Jewish calendar, Passover is always on the 15th day of the month of Nisan. The “eastern church” uses the Julian calendar. The “western church” uses the Gregorian calendar. (In fact, my understanding is, pretty much all of Europe and the Americas used the Julian calendar until sometime during the 1700s when the “western world” switched to the Gregorian calendar.) The date of Easter is set as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox.

I was surprised to read this week that when the Catholic Church had its “Second Vatican Council” in the early 1960s, it seriously considered changing Easter so that it would always be the 2nd Sunday of April. I believe they made that RECOMMENDATION, in fact, but so far it’s never been changed. Also, I was reading this week that the World Council of Churches recommended in 1997 that the eastern and western churches come together and somehow make sure that everybody celebrates Easter on the same day every year. That also is a RECOMMENDATION that is no more than that at this point.

I hope I haven’t bored you, but as a guy who’s often been puzzled about the issue of “WHY does the date for Easter change from year to hear?” this is a big part of why.

The important thing is really not so much the DATE, but what Easter really means. For true Christians, Easter is a very special day; possibly the most important day of the year. My friend, Debby Seler, missionary to Jamaica, wrote a GREAT blog posting about why Easter is very important to her. I encourage you to click on her blog (in the column at the right) and find that posting. It’s really good.

I’m writing this on Maundy Thursday night, and tomorrow is Good Friday. These are solemn days, but I’m reminded of the great sermon by Tony Campolo of Philadelphia, “It’s FRIDAY but SUNDAY’S COMIN’!” (I suspect if you search for that on youtube you’ll find it; it’s pretty powerful.)

May you have a Blessed Easter; and if you have never PERSONALLY received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, may this be the year that you make that decision!

"I DIDN'T DO IT!"

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)

I love to get mail! Well, I love to get MOST mail. Today a surprising piece of mail arrived at my home. It was a violation notice for not paying the toll at the Tobin Bridge on Monday, March 8, 2010. The plate number of the violator was listed as “280”. Yup, that’s my plate: 280. But I wanted to shout, “I DIDN’T DO IT!” And I didn’t. I inherited my parents’ 1989 Volkswagen Golf in late 2000 and along with it, I inherited Massachusetts plate #280. My father had plate #280 because he had been a Registry of Motor Vehicles Supervisor. In fact, it was awarded to him by then Registrar Alan Mackey on the occasion of his retirement.

COULD I have been up at the Tobin bridge on March 8 and forgotten about it? Or could someone else have driven my car up there that day? No! On Monday, February 8, I had NO BRAKES in the Volkswagen in downtown Framingham. It was pretty terrifying. I aimed the car into a snow bank and that stopped it. I called AAA and had the car towed to my driveway where it has sat ever since. I did not want to take any chances with losing plate #280 so I kept the registration and insurance on the Volkswagen active. Just yesterday, I transferred plate #280 to our 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan. (That meant 2 trips to the Milford Registry and 2 trips to our insurance agency.) Bottom line: The VW with plate #280 sat dead in my driveway on March 8. I didn’t do it. I sent off an appeal letter to the Violations officer explaining all of that and I trust the $50 ticket will be dismissed.

This week, Christians remember the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. A few years ago, a lot of people were “grossed out” by Mel Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ”. In fact, the REAL crucifixion was more bloody and gory even than Mel’s film. Mel Gibson himself has stated that he actually TONED DOWN the look of Jesus Christ on the Cross because if the film portrayed it with extreme accuracy no one would want to look at the film and it would make them sick. The amazing thing is that Jesus Christ endured that horrible suffering and death; he was executed as a criminal but HE DIDN’T DO IT! I am so humbled when I think that Jesus was silent. What words he DID speak on that Good Friday were mostly words of love, grace, and wisdom. He hung there on the Cross in obedience to His Heavenly Father. He was completely innocent. But he did NOT cry out, “I didn’t do it.” Was Jesus Christ weak? No! He was STRONG!

I will have to change the names to protect the innocent here, but a little over ten years ago the employee of a friend of mine was arrested and charged with child molestation. This all happened at the workplace. A woman who worked there as a secretary would bring her little girl in to work, and sometimes a single guy who worked there would “take her into his office and baby-sit her”. She later confided to her mother that the office baby-sitter had touched her inappropriately. I’ll call the office baby-sitter Zach. Zach tried to brush off the charges saying, “Oh we were just playing. Oh I might sit her on my lap...” etc.

My friend Fred who employed Zach and Charlene (the secretary) could not understand how Zach could be so blasé and casual about the charges against him.
"I would be yelling, 'I DIDN’T DO IT!'" said Fred. So would I. That’s because we would never molest a child. Zach didn’t yell that because he did it and he went to jail for it.

Back to Jesus Christ: no, He didn’t do it. But I did it. I did it. So did you. No, I didn’t molest children! And, no, I didn’t fail to pay a toll at the Tobin Bridge. But the Bible teaches that my sins and your sins are what put the holy, sinless Jesus Christ on that Cross. That may sound old-fashioned and gory, but it’s the direct message of pretty much the entire New Testament, and it’s also (usually in more subtle forms) found in the Old Testament (the Jewish Scriptures).

Isaiah 53 that I quote from above is a remarkable passage. It was written roughly 700 years before Jesus’ crucifixion. Yet, if you read Isaiah 53 in ANY Bible....Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, or whatever....it is clearly talking about Jesus Christ dying on the Cross. It’s an amazing piece of prophecy.

If what I’m writing sounds “off the wall”, I challenge you to read Isaiah 53 this week. And read from the New Testament this week, especially the Gospel of John, the Book of Ephesians, and the Book of Romans. God’s standard for heaven is PERFECTION. I have never lived up to that standard for even one day of my life. Neither have you. But Jesus Christ DID. And HE paid the penalty for our sins so we would NOT have to spend eternity in Hell. And, He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. He conquered death and the devil. (See I Corinthians 15, among other chapters.)

I was not happy to receive that violation notice today, nor was I happy to have to write my appeal letter and mail it off. But it got me thinking about what I’ve written here today, so (for you mature Christians) I guess this was a Romans 8:28 situation!

PRAISE IN THE HOUSE AT G.F.C.C.

“And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way.
And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying,
Hosanna to the Son of David:
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying,
And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21:8-11)

As difficult as it is to NOT be pastoring anymore (especially on Holy Week) one blessing of not pastoring is the opportunity of visiting other churches. On the 14th and the 21st, Mary Ann and I went up to Bread of Life Assembly of God in Westminster. Today, Mary Ann went there again, but she had a meeting to attend (relative to the Treasury facet of the closing of the Framingham church) immediately after the service. I was willing to go up there with her and just hang around after church. Mary Ann, however, gave me the option to NOT go today, and I exercised that option.

Jon and I walked down to Greater Framingham Community Church, the predominantly African-American congregation at Franklin and Park Sts. in downtown Framingham. What a GREAT Palm Sunday service! I loved it! Frankly, I could attend an African-American church every week with NO problem!

The Rev. Dr. J. Anthony Lloyd’s sermon was “There’s a New Sheriff in Town”. It was an outstanding Palm Sunday message. A real test when I visit another church is if I get “fed” by the message, and I DID! In fact, they also had a responsive altar call after the sermon for those who wanted to go up for a few minutes seeking the Lord (as is often done in Pentecostal churches although I believe G.F.C.C. comes from more of a Baptist tradition). I went up, and I’m glad I did.

Jon and I were not the only white people there. I’d say at least 5% of those seated in the congregation were fellow European-Americans. There was a white woman and her little girl visiting who identified themselves as from a growing youth oriented church in the 495 Belt that I’m familiar with. I’m not sure if they live in Framingham or what. I know the church she mentioned as being from is one of those where you can show up dressed very casually and sit there drinking a Starbucks coffee during the service. Conversely, in the Black churches, people tend to wear their Sunday best and much of the format hasn’t changed much in fifty years. No power point during the service, for instance.

The choir was GREAT! A song they did over and over and over (and I LOVED it) was “Praise in the Temple/Praise in the House”. If you want to hear what that song sounds like, there’s a version of it on youtube by Dorothy Norwood. Just cut and paste the link below and check out the song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7TU6CfmTKE

Looking for a great, dynamic, English speaking Bible preaching church in downtown Framingham? You just might want to check out Greater Framingham Community Church. Their service is at 10. AND for Easter Sunday, they’re also having an early service at 7:30 followed by a breakfast.