Sunday in Surbiton

I’ve had a delightful day, really. 

Certainly, I missed going to my home church–either of the two.  But, today I experienced something completely different than either has to offer.  Not in a bad way, and not necessarily in a better way.  I felt rather at home, actually.  The people were very welcoming, and everyone I met said they hoped they’d see me again; I rather think they will.

It’s a small church.  There might have been fifty people in attendance.  However, before I visited I checked their website.  (That’s how I found them, actually, so of course it’s the first thing I did.)  I was encouraged to discover that they didn’t mention anything about people who were unwelcome or the handling of snakes; instead, the website had many references to Jesus Christ as Saviour, and the Bible, and the Holy Spirit, and how welcome visitors should feel.  Of course, anyone can say anything on a website, but the real test is the visit, the face-to-face.  I figured it was worth a shot.

And it was, I’d say. 

This church, Oaklands Baptist, is a partner of sorts with another, Balaclava.  They’re one church in practice but haven’t made the merger official on paper, so on Sunday mornings they meet at the Oaklands campus and in the evenings at Balaclava.  (That service takes place at 6:30 tonight, but it will be dark and is quite a ways down the road.  Perhaps when I’m more comfortable with the area I’ll visit it as well, but for now I believe I’ll stick to Oaklands.) 

 

First, I was welcomed by a dear little lady named Grace.  I like that name.  I liked her, too.  Next, I encountered another lady who was blind and whose seat I had unwittingly taken–but I was more than willing to move over two seats for her and her friend, whose name I don’t know but who was also very sociable.  Of course, they all realized I was from another country because I didn’t have their wonderful accents (and I still don’t feel quite ready to try it out in public yet); one wondered if I was from Canada, which I thought was interesting. 

I even got to meet the pastor at the tea and refreshments served afterwards.  He’s very young–possibly Steven Furtick’s age, maybe even younger.  You wouldn’t expect such a young pastor at this church, though; at least, I wouldn’t have.  It’s not completely comprised of senior adults, but they do make up a majority.  Then, too, there were some very young families, and that was encouraging to me. 

The pastor didn’t speak today, though.  Instead, a fellow came from the Sailors’ Society to deliver a message about trust and about the text of Luke 4:17-21.  Unfortunately, I forgot to carry my notebook along, but I recall that he talked about God’s manifesto (Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy) and the good manifesto (how that fulfillment was good news for the poor, the oppressed, the physically injured, and so on).  He did a fine job, but I’m interested to hear the “real” pastor preach.  

After the tea, I went back home with the intention of running some errands and taking pictures all at the same time.  I didn’t quite plan my trip well enough for this, however, because I went to the grocery store first.  And I’ve come to the conclusion that Sunday is not a good day to visit the grocery store; by the time I got there, all of the sale items had been picked over, and it was a little crowded.  I got everything that I needed and/or would be able to carry home, which included some juice and some cheese, and both require refrigeration.  Besides that, I had some other items which made up two bags and which were not too heavy but were still mighty cumbersome and not conducive to leisurely walking.  The pictures, I decided, would have to wait until after I had dropped off the groceries and had gotten some lunch.  I meant to grab some in a sandwich shop (Gregg’s) on the way home, but it’s closed on Sundays, I reckon.  To my surprise, many places are.  That’s no matter, though, because I had a slam-bang tuna sandwich when I got home.   

Then, I went for a good, long walk around the neighborhoods in the area and took some pictures.  Unfortunately, I can’t load them all here.  I’m afraid that I must be uploading pictures the difficult way, because it’s never convenient.  I do what I can. 

Be seeing you!