Sunday May 3, 2009 Bali Sunday
Today was Bali Sunday at Jimeta Cathedral Church. The plan was that there would be a second offering on this Sunday to help finance the Bali Project. This has been announced for the last two Sundays. The Vicar who is the Chair of the Bali Committee is away as a guest pastor at another church so they have invited a guest pastor to officiate and give the sermon today. The guest pastor is Bishop Edward Ishaya who is a big supporter of the Bali Project. He decided that there would only be one offering and all the money would go to the Bali Project. They argued with him that is not how they do it. Their agreements were in vain. He is their bishop and he had his way. The English service filled the church and people were seated outside. I estimated the attendance at near 2000. Following the sermon they started the offering Nigerian style. They placed two large plastic drums at the front of the church for the offering and two smaller containers for tithes. Then as the youth band played and sang the people walked to the front in dropped in their offering envelops of dropped in money. They started with the people outside, then the balcony and from the back of the church to the front. I was last with an enlarged version of the check from Mount Calvary Bali Committee to Jimeta Cathedral Bali Committee for One Million One Hundred and Sixty Thousand Naira ($8,000). The presentation was made again after the Hausa service offering.
Bishop Ishaya’s sermon was on honesty. He discussed his three favorite apostles because they were honest to the core. (Peter, Timothy and another one. I am writing this on a rainy Wednesday and forgot the third one.) It was a very good sermon about if you are truthful how people will trust you. If you are truthful you are not afraid to ask questions when you do not understand someone. In his closing he told the story of a family who had a son that kept coming home late and worrying his parents. The father was tired of the son’s lies as to why he was late. He hired a lie detector. The son came home late and the father asked him what he was doing. The son said he was just over at a friend’s house to study and lost track of the time. The lie detector stood up a slapped the boy. The father said I know you were out with those bad girls. The boy said “No, Daddy. I know those are bad girls I never go out with them.” The lie detector stood up and slapped the boy again. The boy decided he better not say anything. The father told the boy “I knew you were with those girls. When I was a boy I never worried my parents. I never ran around with bad girls.” The lie detector stood up a slapped the father. The mother started laughing and laughing. Her eyes were tearing and she fell on the floor laughing. Then she composed herself and stood up and said “Like father, like son.” And the lie detector slapped her. Because he was not the boy’s father. A family based on lies will not be a strong family. The people may not have heard the moral of the story because they were too busy laughing.
Today was Bali Sunday at Jimeta Cathedral Church. The plan was that there would be a second offering on this Sunday to help finance the Bali Project. This has been announced for the last two Sundays. The Vicar who is the Chair of the Bali Committee is away as a guest pastor at another church so they have invited a guest pastor to officiate and give the sermon today. The guest pastor is Bishop Edward Ishaya who is a big supporter of the Bali Project. He decided that there would only be one offering and all the money would go to the Bali Project. They argued with him that is not how they do it. Their agreements were in vain. He is their bishop and he had his way. The English service filled the church and people were seated outside. I estimated the attendance at near 2000. Following the sermon they started the offering Nigerian style. They placed two large plastic drums at the front of the church for the offering and two smaller containers for tithes. Then as the youth band played and sang the people walked to the front in dropped in their offering envelops of dropped in money. They started with the people outside, then the balcony and from the back of the church to the front. I was last with an enlarged version of the check from Mount Calvary Bali Committee to Jimeta Cathedral Bali Committee for One Million One Hundred and Sixty Thousand Naira ($8,000). The presentation was made again after the Hausa service offering.
Bishop Ishaya’s sermon was on honesty. He discussed his three favorite apostles because they were honest to the core. (Peter, Timothy and another one. I am writing this on a rainy Wednesday and forgot the third one.) It was a very good sermon about if you are truthful how people will trust you. If you are truthful you are not afraid to ask questions when you do not understand someone. In his closing he told the story of a family who had a son that kept coming home late and worrying his parents. The father was tired of the son’s lies as to why he was late. He hired a lie detector. The son came home late and the father asked him what he was doing. The son said he was just over at a friend’s house to study and lost track of the time. The lie detector stood up a slapped the boy. The father said I know you were out with those bad girls. The boy said “No, Daddy. I know those are bad girls I never go out with them.” The lie detector stood up and slapped the boy again. The boy decided he better not say anything. The father told the boy “I knew you were with those girls. When I was a boy I never worried my parents. I never ran around with bad girls.” The lie detector stood up a slapped the father. The mother started laughing and laughing. Her eyes were tearing and she fell on the floor laughing. Then she composed herself and stood up and said “Like father, like son.” And the lie detector slapped her. Because he was not the boy’s father. A family based on lies will not be a strong family. The people may not have heard the moral of the story because they were too busy laughing.
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