Celebration Sunday reflections

The "Celebration Sunday" event at our church yesterday, was a great success. There are so many people to thank for their hard work. There are those folks who helped in the preparing and organizing the youth in order for them to participate in the worship service, those that helped set up for the celebration gathering at the Methodist facility, those that served the wonderful food and refreshments, those that arranged the games and the “baptismal dunking booth” :-) , etc. I hardly know where to start to thank everyone for their tireless work. There are so many folks behind the scenes that make something like this possible, including all the parish members who attended. As a result, it was such a joyous time of fellowship! We have wonderfully God-gifted leadership and membership in this parish that really shines, in the context of the joyous worship service and celebration gathering that we had experienced yesterday.

The young folks did such a marvelous job in the choir, the lay reading, the ushering, etc. I was so fortunate to be able to play bass guitar with them. I had the best seat in the house because I sat right there next to them and could see and hear their enthusiasm and energy up close. It was so precious to see them all go up to the altar together to prepare for the receiving of the Holy Communion. Father Michael’s sermon contained such wonderful examples of how God has used gifted young people of all ages through history and the Bible, in accomplishing wondrous things.

I have many lasting images, and memories of the events of yesterday. Perhaps the most profound image I had was the sense of what God intends for his family to experience as his children. We were talking about the Holy Spirit during Sunday School and we discussed that the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5:22 contain great insight as to what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are really like and what God wants for us as his children. Jesus gave us a couple of great teachings on the necessity of coming to Him as children. When we do that, we will experience a reality of God’s great love and care. The parent-child model gives us great imagery in helping us understand the proper relationship of dependence, love, and obedience to our heavenly Father, just as our human children do in the context of a Godly home.

I’ll close my entry for today with the words of Jesus from Matthew Chapter 18, beginning at verse 2:

“He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.”

Have a Blessed Day,
Your brother in Christ,
George