A Glimpse of Sunday, May 27 & Building Update

Strange religious customs

     I attended a Buddhist funeral a number of years ago. It was the relative of a Vietnamese family that was part of my church in San Jose. It was the first one of that religion I had experienced. At one point, family members and friends started a small fire in a pan and began to put in money and pictures of money into the fire. I think the idea was to send money ahead into the afterlife for the deceased to have to use, or to placate whatever gods there might be to have mercy on the person. Besides not really understanding what was going on, things got really exciting when the funeral director found out about the fire and rushed in to try to put it out! There were some differences in cultures (and fire codes, no doubt) between the family's religion and a "normal" Catholic or Protestant funeral service.
     There are definite differences between the religions of the world and how people practice them. Behind the practices, though, are truths, lies, and spiritual realities that do not make certain religious practices as innocent as they might seem. In our series in 1 Corinthians 8-10, Paul has been dealing with some practices that we do not find going on around America. When was the last time you went to Market Basket or Hannaford and they had a special on beef recently offered to Lord Krishna or Buddha or Zeus? When was the last time you had a birthday party invitation for your niece's first birthday that was going to be held in the Temple of Isis?
     Living back in Paul's day, you would have had both types of occasions confront you. This Sunday, we are going to look at the final argument Paul has as to why Christians are not to head down to the local temple for a BBQ and his reason may surprise you. We will also look at some ways in which this ancient dilemma pops its head up in our day.

Building Progress

     We are slowing moving to completion of the main work. The fire sprinklers are all in. The lights are still coming, so they are not in, which has slowed the electrical work, although most of the switches and outlets are in. Two new electrical panels were installed. One to replace the old one in the auditorium and the other one is in the kitchen. Emergency lights and exits lights are in, as well as outside lights. Next week, the flooring starts. Enjoy the pictures:

Electrical subpanel in the auditorium. I don't think we will run out of space  for the future now.

Kitchen shutter looking from inside the kitchen.

Outside light.

Fire sprinkler connected and in place.