The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced. Psalm 126:3
There were chicken salad sandwiches and deviled eggs and desserts and lemonade and more.
All after worship, of course.
During worship there was water and the sharing, receiving, and claiming of words. Words of new promise and covenants renewed.
Words over water held in hands signifying baptism’s grace,
placed dripping on an 8 year old’s head, eyes big and smile wide.
A holy moment shared in a small rural church in the middle of a beautiful
place many would label “nowhere”.
Student pastor, Noah Glover, played his guitar as we sang the hymns,
then offered a sermon about how God stopped.
God stopped and made a difference. God stopped and miracles happened.
Even in the busyness and busiest of times, God stopped, and there was healing, and help, and hope, even those believed dead were raised to life… when God stopped.
What a blessing it was to have been in that place called Ophir UMC, where God stopped to name and claim Bennett who came to be baptized, and Savannah and Riley and Georgia who came to be confirmed. God stopped and the world is forever changed because a little boy wanted to be baptized and three young girls wanted to be confirmed… wanted to say with their own voices that in this world God has stopped and made a difference in their lives, and in their families lives, and in this church’s life, and in the world.
What a blessing to have stopped where God stopped, to share the blessing over the water,
remember God’s gracious love poured out throughout history, and to affirm our faith together saying in one yet varied voices what and in Whom we believe.
What a blessing to share in and hear their answers and the congregation’s responses to the questions which unite us in our following Jesus life together and our communal faith journey.
What a gift to say with hands laid on heads
The Holy Spirit work within you that being born of water and the Spirit
you may be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.
Yes! Amen! May it be so!
For you and for me!
God stopped and blessed and named and claimed and renewed us all,
and we in that small rural church in Ophir, NC, clapped and celebrated!
We clapped and celebrated new family members!
We clapped and celebrated God’s new beginning!
We clapped and celebrated and took pictures to remember the day that God stopped…to remember the healing, to remember the help, to remember the hope, and the raising to new life.
God stopped and grace abounded, and we with great rejoicing gathered with our faith family-members brand new and old-for a wonderful feast of chicken salad sandwiches, deviled eggs, desserts, and lemonade and more.
Thanks be to God!
With thanksgiving for the grace that abounds in and through you daily,
Dena
If you would like to view past editions of Grace for the Journey, follow this link: https://fairwaydistrictnc.org/category/from-the-ds/