Sunday in Odessa

Since it is Sunday, this post is going to be a little (or a lot!) preachy.  We had the great privilege of worshiping in the Reformed Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ukraine, the church that David and Jill attend.  Odessa is a city that had been occupied by the Nazis during WWII, then taken over by the Soviet Union until it ceased to exist.  During that time, the church building had fallen into terrible disrepair, and was taken over by various groups, most recently a puppet troupe.  The MTW group that has been working here in the city since the late 1990's to help plant a church, worked with a group of local people to reestablish this facility as a church again.  Right around 2000-2001, the building regained it's original identity and was rededicated.  Now it has been renovated and is beautiful.  The sermon today was taken from several passages, starting in Revelation 1:1 - 2:7, with much emphasis place on verse 4: "But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first."  The church in Ephesus, the church in Odessa, and my church in Montgomery all need to hear this message - return to your first love! If we come to Sunday morning and our entire focus is not on praising God and worshiping him, then we are sinning.  If we are out of fellowship with each other, and pretending to be okay with God, we are sinning.  Every other concern, be it legitimate or grumbling in our hearts, are not welcome in what should be a sweet time of fellowship with a Holy God who gave his own Son for our salvation.  The singing was wonderful in this old/new church, with joyful expressions on the faces of the small choir.  It reminded me how precious and cherished an experience it is for them, to again be able to meet and worship God.  They value this - do we?  Then we moved to Romans 5:1-5 

"1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

Here is where we should return as our first love. We should rejoice that we have been justified by faith, that we have peace with God, that we have hope of the glory of God, and the Holy Spirit has been given to us.  Let's revel in this, and put aside the things that so easily entangle us.