About 5 minutes before the first service was to begin this morning, the power flickered a few times and then went out completely; the result of a blown transformer, I hear.
Regardless of the reason, the sanctuary was dark, and all the doors to the atrium and vestibule had to be opened to let some light inside. Of course, the band had no power for their instruments, none of the mics worked, and the overhead projector could not display announcements and the words to the music. Their was no noise, or air for that matter, from the air conditioners, either.
The pastor reminded us that for millions of Christians around the world, this absence of creature comforts, that we take so for granted, was the norm. Not only the absence of things the American church uses each week, but the realization that meetings had to be kept secret and quiet, because of hostility, both personal and governmental.
What could have been a major interference, became a blessing as our service was fantastic. We had only the piano for music along with a guitar without amplification, and we could actually hear each other singing. I don't know what songs were on the original program, but we could sing along with the ones used, because the music leaders needed to use songs that were familiar to the congregation.
The darkness and the softer music seemed to make the whole service a lot more reverent to me. It was not a problem to close my eyes and listen to the music and the words and sense their deeper meanings. God was very real in that place during that hour.
Evidently the church leadership must have felt some of the same, because the lights were turned way down for the second service, even though the electricity had been restored at the close of the first. That first dark service had been so filled with power, that no one wanted the folks in the second to miss the experience.
There was an abundance of power in our church today, it just did not come through the electric lines.
Let's do it again, is my suggestion.
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