Bolton St. Baptist Church
“No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.”
Revelation 22:3-5
I actually attended two services today, the first was a Sunrise Service at Palo Duro Canyon. Someone knew someone and I called Butch and met Lonnie, Joe, James, Tyke, Rosemary and others at the donut shop at 6 a.m. We rode twenty or so miles to the canyon- a cool ride- and arrived at a packed service and sat in the overflow outside- a cool service. Nonetheless it was wonderful to meet some Christian Motorcycle Association guys and ride with them.
The 11:00 service took place at the Baptist Church, and I'd like to highlight a few people. First, Ken sat behind us and as Brother Leon preached, he would not just yell "Amen," or "Preach it," but would finish his sentences!
"In the final days, we will all-"
"Meet him! Yes we will."
It was really distracting. However, after a bit, I realized that Ken was totally focused on the sermon, and really dialed in. And that's just a quirk of the church. Every church has quirks.
And Miss Maureen. God bless her. She played the piano, and at 91 years old, has no feeling in one hand. She played a few songs, but I really noticed her during the offering. She played beautifully. Oh, yes it was an old song. Afterward I thanked her and told her how much I appreciated her playing and serving at her age. She leaned on her walker and said, "It's my life. It's what I do." She's going to get a rocking mansion on the other side.
Today the choir treated us to eight songs or so, and for a small church, sounded like a big church choir. However, I was frustrated on two fronts; we didn't clap between songs, and I wanted to sing. If you want to sing along, it's gotta be good. Finally we clapped at their conclusion.
The church is a bit long in the tooth, but with around a hundred in the pews and eighteen in the choir, it carries a large cross section of committed and passionate people.
The buildings are simple brick with neat clean lines, and the faithful help to keep it fiscally sound. However, they are struggling to fund a Multimedia System. The old folks don't like change, and that may be tough. The calendar, inside the bulletin, was a paper month with the events written in each day and photocopied. Change could be fraught with problems. But the church serves the older folks, and they like things just the way they are. I say do whatever it takes to keep Maureen's hands on the keys.
Happy Easter, He is risen, He is risen indeed!
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