Open the roof

Our church is blessed to host a Boy Scout troop.  I highly recommend it to you.  Each week more than a dozen young men and their leaders meet in our church. Our sponsorship of the group enables them to have a home, and for the leadership to nurture the group in faith and toward adulthood.

They work and they play, and sometimes something - like a window - gets broken. It's OK, though, because the boys are more important than the window. We can fix the broken window, but failing to nurture the next generation - that's much harder to fix.

I thought of our church trustees when Peter Storey told the story of the four men and the paralytic. He asked us to close our eyes and to imagine that during his sermon, plaster started falling from the ceiling as four friends broken open the church to lower the one who needed healing closer to the "action." He reminded us that even if Jesus had been preaching, the healing of the sick one was more important.

Can you imagine what would happen if four people started digging open your sanctuary ceiling during church?  How would you respond?

You have all you need

Order of Worship, Prayer beads,
pens, Emmaus Cross
(from when I was Walk Lay Director)

Tuesday I prepared for a gathering of the committee of which I am now the chairperson.  The plan was to hold a worship service during which we would attempt to discern God's mission and will for the work we are to do.  Knowing it was worship, I spent a few minutes in prayer in the chapel in our building.

The day was dreary when I went into the chapel.  One wall has several stained glass windows that face the street, but they were rather dim when I went into the room.  As I was praying, mainly just being silent, I could tell that the light level in the room was increasing.  I opened my eyes; sunlight was streaming through the stained glass, reflecting off the shiny wood floors - white light, colored light.  It was absolutely beautiful, and it truly felt like I was surrounded by God.

The words - not my words -
in my head as I prayed were "You have all you need."  That's the message I took to my committee.  In a time of tightening budgets and decreasing membership, we have all we need to do what God is calling us to do.

I think that's a message for more than just one committee.  (And for those who are veterans of the Walk to Emmaus and are part of a reunion group, that was my "moment when I felt closest to Christ.")