37 :: Ocean Church, Estero

Today I worshipped at Ocean Church in Estero, Florida. This was another streamed service this week, as I have Covid-19! As such, I must pull back from the world for this Sunday.

Covid-19 sickness has been uncomfortable, but it is not the sickest I have been.

I chose to visit this church because it is near where my mother lives and I have been there before. Ocean Church has three locations in Florida. This was a good visit to the Estero campus.

The service started in a fashion that I have become accustomed to for contemporary churches - purple accent lights and a band. This band was solid.

After the band, Phil McMillan came out and led the church in prayer. 

The main event was when Pastor Ed Ivie came out to give his message. Since this is my second time seeing Ed, the first time having been in person, I had some expectation in my mind about what I was going to get. This is a capable senior pastor and this sermon reflects some mellowing and texture that I didn't see in 2018. I think 2020 has had a huge impact on all of us, and this includes Pastor Ed.

This was the first in a series named Apocalypse Church. Based on the name of the message series, you can imagine that I was engaged and ready to hear more.

Pastor Ed and his wife Christy had just finished a sabbatical in the second half of 2020, part of it in the Upper Midwest. His reflections from that time were profound. Much of what he shared during the message were observations gained from the very unusual year behind us, as well as that sabbatical within it.

The main idea that Pastor Ed put forth was that this world is not our home, that Christians are truly and primarily citizens of Heaven. He offered up that we can expect to feel some level of strangeness at this idea, but it is our primary truth - we are not of this place. This is not our home.

In addition to this point, he had us reflect back on 2020 overall, as well as where we all were one year ago, before the pandemic. He asked all of us to consider how the year had changed us. How it had impacted our relationships. How it made us look at life and death. How it interrupted the entire world out of a level of illusion and complacency into sharp focus.

These were beautiful sentiments and rang true. And part of me was expecting something different based on the series name of Apocalypse Church. The four beasts chanting through eternity at the base of God's throne. The Council of Elders casting down their crowns. The eagle soaring above the silent throng as the next Seal is opened.

That sort of Apocalyptical stuff?

No.

ἀποκάλυψις is a Greek word from which we derive the word apocalypse. It's meaning is "the lifting of the veil." That process whereby our vision is not longer clouded and we can see reality in its fullness. The old is shed and the new is embraced.

That is, in point of fact, what the word apocalypse means. 

Last year was arguably the best year I have had in a long time. Perhaps ever. I fell in love and met the woman I am going to marry this year. That's a huge deal!  202 was awesome, in reality.

This during the same time that something of great darkness was rolled out across the world and onto an unsuspecting humanity. 

That is also the way apocalypse works - lifting of the veil so we can be witnesses to God's grandeur, even as suffering and injustice may proliferate around us. Then - everything moves to a final resolution.

I had a good time at Ocean Church. I will be visiting their Naples campus when I am down in Florida in April. Blessings upon this community.