Sunday Notes

Once a month (twice this month), I teach my students about men of the Reformation. Today we learned about Ridley and Latimer, two English reformers during the time of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey, and Queen Mary (we also learned a bit of British history). Ridley and Latimer were eventually burned at the stake. We ended up having a discussion about being burned at the stake vs. being strangled vs. being beheaded. The final decision was that being beheaded would be best as it would hurt the least, and if you were burned at the stake, it was best to have gunpowder tied around your neck (so it would explode and kill you quickly) or to breathe deeply and die of smoke inhalation. Yeah....I taught my students how to be martyred.

Pastor James preached on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, about glorifying God in our bodies. It was a great sermon, and very powerful. There are some things he said that I'm going to have to ponder on for a while to make sure I understand, and to see how they affect my life. Mostly, I'm thinking about how if we are all members of Christ's body, then any sin I commit will affect the whole body. I was reading True Community by Jerry Bridges this week, and he says much the same thing: that we're all part of the body, so what hurts one part will hurt the rest.

We were there after for a long time as the people I ride with were locking up, and a couple of the elders had a meeting (making it even longer than normal). I was going to do some research in the library about a passage I'm studying, but ended up talking with one of the other ladies for a long time. We're at about the same stage in life, are both finding the change of life really rough going. We were able to commiserate with each other and encourage each other to glorify God in our tough times. I have just recently been getting to know this sister in Christ, and I count her as one of the really good things that God has brought into my life this year.

It was a really, really good Sunday.