The Day of Celebration, Freedom, Gratitude and Worship!
Greetings! It will be a joy to be of service to our Vancouver Yugoslavian Church this morning. They are a group of faithful believers who want to serve the Lord and share His love in their community. Please let’s keep them in our prayers.
Last Sabbath, I attended the CASA (Canadian Adventist School Athletics) Tournament at DLS. I was blessed by their “youth flavour” worship, for interacting with the students coming from our schools across the Conference, and was able to “borrow” some energy for the busy schedule ahead of me during that weekend…
This morning, a thought came to my mind as I reflected on my experience at DLS on that day. After the service there, I saw all students getting in line for lunch as it is the responsibility of the organizers of such events to feed the participants. I had mistakenly forgotten my pre-packed lunch at home and was planning to leave shortly after “hanging out” there for a bit. Then, I met Esmon Emmons, a DLS teacher. He reached out and asked me when I was getting in line for lunch. I gently dismissed the conversation by stating that I knew that the food was for the students and those directly involved with the event and I was not intending to stay. He kindly took me by the hand and while walking with me he said: “Today is a Sabbath day. The Bible is very clear about how we should treat all who are in our house on this day. This is a day of celebration.” In a few seconds we were in the line and he helped me to serve a plate of a delicious food which had been prepared by loving hands. Wow! He reminded me (us) about the blessing of the Sabbath day. It is a day of celebration, liberation, freedom, gratitude, and specially for the worship of our Creator God! (Luke 4:16-21) We are blessed by knowing and practising the meaning of the Sabbath day in our relationship with God and His children, by His grace. Yes, we are one family that is getting ready to go home!
“Then the Sabbath is a sign of Christ’s power to make us holy. And it is given to all whom Christ makes holy. As a sign of His sanctifying power, the Sabbath is given to all who through Christ become a part of the Israel of God.” (EGW, DA, 288)
Happy Sabbath!
In His Service,
Wesley Torres, D.Min.
President