Sunday night recap

Today was another long and full Lord's Day. It was our first Sunday to get all five kids ready for church without any outside help, since my mom flew back home on Friday. Thanks to Robyn, the morning went smoothly and we had five little bodies buckled up and ready to ride to church with time to spare. My job is rather easy on Sunday mornings: get myself ready. As for Robyn, she has six people to get ready.

I had a full slate at church today. First, I led the morning Sunday School class on Genesis. Today we looked at the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve. I was struck again by how deceptively simple the first few chapters of Genesis are. The stories (by "story" I don't mean fiction; I believe they are historical accounts) are plain enough for a child to understand, but so profound as to provide matter for the deepest of theological reflection. One verse that strikes me in particular is 3:1, in which the serpent utters his very first words, asking Eve: "Did God actually say,...?" Isn't that always the starting point for Satan's deception, to tempt us to doubt the veracity of God's Word?

In the morning, I preached on the account of the mother of James and John asking Jesus to give her sons the two highest positions in the kingdom. I thought it went better than last week, but who knows, really? One point I made, an insight gleaned from A.B. Bruce's The Training of the Twelve, is that Jesus is the only king who obtained his throne by first becoming a servant. He didn't inherit it, he didn't win it with power, or charm, or cunning, but he acquired the greatest throne of all by becoming the lowliest servant of all.

At the evening service, my message was on Romans 6:15-23. In Christ, we are slaves to righteousness, but this slavery is really the essence of true human freedom. In the middle of the sermon, I almost lost my train of thought when I saw my poor wife trying, with one arm, to drag Moriah out of the church for a spanking while with the other arm cradling Monica. I was very tempted to stop the sermon and walk down the aisle to help out, but thankfully Robyn managed to leave the sanctuary without my assistance.

A little while ago, as I held Monica at home, she smiled at me. No one else saw it though, and Robyn is skeptical that it was real. But I think I know a smile when I see one, so I'm sticking with my story.