The Philo Road Church of Christ seemed a good place to visit
this morning. I was greeted at the door and followed others down a long hall to
a low-ceilinged, simply-adorned assembly room. A friendly woman brought me a
bulletin and a small zip-lock bag with communion elements in it. Hmm. A man
named Jerry sat nearby and told me a little of his decades-long history with
this congregation. He and his wife invited me to stay for the catered church
dinner today.
Present were about seventy people, black and white, maybe 50% of them over 50 but some young adults and a handful of kids too. When I asked, I learned that Sunday School is available when the families with kids are here. Announcements included mention of a Caring and Sharing group, Illinois Christian Camp, a Bible Trivia Night fundraiser for mission work at the Illinois State Fair and some opportunities to serve. Looks like they also volunteer at Salt and Light thrift store which is just down the street.
Technology included screens, amplification, and live stream,
but the congregational singing began with a pitch pipe. Happily, I did not need earplugs here. We
sang some classic hymns, Come We that Love the Lord, They’ll
Know we are Christians by Our Love, and Each Day I’ll Do a Golden Deed. It was
nice hearing the separate male and female parts of this song. I didn’t know it
had so many verses. After communion we returned our empty cup-and-wafer set to
the zippy bags for easy clean up.
Churches of Christ leadership is male and they tend to use different
leadership terms than those common in other evangelical churches, shepherds,
for example, and evangelist. Today’s message was given by Evangelist Jon
Smith, who, the church website reports, is a graduate of our own Urbana
Theological Seminary. The current preaching series considers how people in the
Bible respond to the resurrection with examples from Acts 19 today. The message
emphasized the kindness of God. Has God been kind to you? How? II Peter 3.9
says God is patient with us and wants all to come to him. He offers mercy. Do
not presume on that. But we must let go of the sin that keeps us from him. Kindness,
extending God’s mercy to others, while not the goal of the Christian life is a
product of it.
As people stood, someone called out for help setting up tables for the
meal.
