Neighboring Churches

One of the things that I feel really weird about as pastor is going to someone else's church for a service. This morning my wife and I will go to a neighbor church for the funeral of a man that lives next to our church facility. We both thought very highly of this fella and we want to pay our respects.

Don't get me wrong, I've gone to hundreds of services at other facilities, but there is always this little feeling of weirdness when I do. In a way it is fun because you can kind of try to pick up on things there that you would like to experiment with. On the other hand it is weird because you always have this feeling that something else should be said or done.

In this particular case we have a very good relationship with this church. I respect this pastor very much. I have preached in his church and he has preached in mine. There is a very good ecumenical relationship going on.

My thoughts today are that I must push past that uneasiness and ask God how He might be able to use me when I am being stretched like this. The very least I can do is to pray for my fellow pastor as he leads this service for this old friend.