A Very Good Friday
I just have to tell you that we had a great day. We’re sitting on the couch together with our clothes and hair smelling like campfire. A good end to a good day.
Adam got up for his early morning guys’ bible study in the living room (I slept in in observance of Good Friday). Around 11 we went to church for Adam to finish a couple of things around the office and then to go to the noon Good Friday service. It was a great service preached by four different ministers: our own Pastor Frank Lewis; the pastor of First Baptist Capitol Hill, a local black congregation; the pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista, a hispanic church that met in our building for years; and the pastor of a Japanese congregation. Members of each congregation were present, though it was mostly evenly mixed between our members and the Capitol Hill members. It’s great to cross cultural and ethnic lines, and I wish we would do it more as a congregation. Each pastor had his own unique presentation, and I enjoyed realizing how approriate each was for his own unique culture within our city. The Capitol Hill minister was dynamic with a rich, booming voice and swooping gestures. He spoke quickly with phrases packed so tightly, I wished I could see it all in writing. The hispanic minister had such a thick accent, I ached to hear him speak in Spanish. I love hearing Spanish spoken. I love hearing languages spoken by native speakers. He used examples from his culture about their religiosity that so often tries to keep Jesus on the cross, afraid to just accept the Grace that it offers. The minister to Japanese spoke slowly and simply but very emotionally, using stories of specific people. Pastor Frank spoke matter-of-factly, using contrasts and ironies to make his points. It was beautiful, and it made me so much more excited about foreign missions. I love to see how a message, the same Truth is communicated differently to different cultures.
After the service at First Baptist, we resumed our house hunt. May I also mention that today was gorgeous? We had bright blue skies, and (dare I say?) seventy degree tempuratures. It was a great day to drive around. We poked around about eight houses in East Nashville and found two great ones. One, I think we will buy if it all goes as I think it will go. It’s on a quiet street off of a really nice street, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a great big, fenced-in back yard, wood floors, a brick sidewalk and cute bushes and flowers. We only got to look through the windows, but we’re meeting with the realtor tomorrow to look inside. It seems like an unbelievable deal. And it’s one we could easily rent out when we leave.
Afterward, we went to another church service at Covenant Presbyterian, which is where Adam was going when we met. We met up with some friends there and enjoyed another great service that mostly went through the interaction and dilemmas of Pontius Pilate leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. He so nearly did the right thing, but then he backed down.
But Jesus had to die, and I am grateful.
We went to have an amazing steak dinner with friends from Adam’s bible study afterward, and it was, well, I can’t even say. It was a great meal. We ate on the back deck of Sloane’s house. It was lovely. Then we played a pool-table game called Splash.
Last on the docket was a bonfire at Daniel and Phelps’ place. It was the perfect scene to close a wonderful day. Lots of interesting people to talk to, some new to us, some we already knew. Andy and Cate are a couple that we enjoyed talking with that we’ve never really connected with before. They have a 2-year-old named Corrine that made me really want one of my own. Adam was beautiful with her. He’ll be such a great father. Good kids really make me want to have kids soon. But we’re waiting. After a while, Brent brought out the acoustic guitar, and we all sang country and folk songs, and a few of us shared some originals. It was a really relaxing and completely enjoyable time.
And now we’re at home together. I hope you had a good day too. Thanks for reading.
-Jessica
