Being Church

Last night when the day was done, I felt nothing but gratitude for all the activity of the day.

I cast a vision for this year at our church with 4 simple words - Faith is a Verb. It is the actions that reflect our relationship with God. And it seems like many people are really embracing this idea.

Yesterday beside worship we had three gatherings of people who were "doing church" or "faithing."

The first was the 25 or so that were in the fellowship hall. Carol Fry brought to us an idea for a Lenten craft project - making plastic mats for the homeless out of plastic bags. It is a daunting project in that every mat takes 500 bags and so for the last few weeks we have been collecting them. Yesterday we started the work which was folding and cutting and making them into strips that will be crocheted. Three quarters of the work could be done by anyone and so we had literally all ages working together to do these tasks. First we ate lunch and then with a lot of talking and laughter we worked together. It is everything I love to see happening at our church

At the same time this was going on, 10 people were gathered in the library preparing to invite people to come to the Nehemiah Action meeting in May for the BREAD organization. They understand the need for our church to be involved with others to bring to light some of the systemic issues that are problems in our community. I am so glad for the leaders who keep guiding our church to participate in this program.

Then yesterday evening we had a very diverse group of people come back to fellowship hall after our 5 O clock worship for Bingo. This is a fundraiser for our youth group and Seth organized it well. The food was perfect and the kids did a wonderful job of leading us in this fun and wholesome evening. A lot of laughs, fun prizes and over $400 dollars raised.

This is why I love the church - the opportunity for us to eat, work and play together and make a difference in the community and the world. And a place where different people have visions and passions and we support each other.

This is when we really are the body of Christ.