It's early Monday. I have already been out with the dog at 4:45. Heavy wet snow falls. Now at my computer, I have to express what I was feeling after worship yesterday as Tricia and I debriefed over dinner at Cafe Paradiso in Northampton.
Gratitude filled my thoughts as we processed what happened. As many of you are aware imagine/Northampton's worship events are like a traveling roadshow in the sense that we have to set up and take down everything we use for each worship. We load up vehicles, transport the stuff to the Northampton Center for the Arts, set up tables and chairs, musical instruments, the imagine/Kids room, the food tables, projector and screen, and put out signs. We then take it all down and leave the space ready for the next occupants. It's a load of work. Our Sunday begins at sun-up and ends in the early evening.
My point is I need to convey a recurring sense of wonder I have when people step up and help shoulder the burden each time. I have been in ministry for many years and worked with volunteers for our retreats and the big productions we have done for worship, but I never get over the generosity and servant-spirit people always exhibit in helping.
People sacrifice time to help us. I think about the folks on our Leadership Team who have pulled up stakes and moved from Connecticut at great cost to launch imagine/Northampton. Their sojourn here has been filled with challenges and difficulties. I think about the talented folks who have gathered since late August to develop and serve on our Worship team. They have given time (weekly rehearsals and worship events), and resources (a place to rehearse, for instance), to make it happen.
Amazing to me.
I think about the gifted young couple from Connecticut who show up to our stuff, pray all the time for us, help out, and are working their tails off to finish school and get up here next summer.
Amazing to me.
Then there are a number of people from other churches who show up early or hang around after worship to help do the grunt work. They are cheerful. They pitch in without being asked. They lighten the load. Thy are wonderful.
Amazing to me.
These folks show up, again and again. They are Jesus-followers with big, generous hearts. They serve because they love him, and they support what he has called us to do in Northampton. We love them.
They are simply amazing to me.
So, I guess I will never get over seeing people of Christ offering their time and talent to imagine. I am glad I will never get over it. I must never get over it. And I must never stop being grateful to him.
8 comments:
Now THAT'S "church." Not a building, but a people in love with Jesus, building community.
It's a pleasure and a privilege to be on this journey with you- one of the most explosive seasons of growth that I have ever been through. It is such a challenging walk that Ashley and I have been forced to deepen our relationship with God to an undiscovered level. It really has been amazing, and hard; we can't wait to be up there.
Hey Nate. We are being challenged to our socks as well. Growth spurts can take place at any time in your life with Jesus, BTW.
In some ways, I feel I am revisiting what I was working on years ago and in other ways, Jesus pulls me deeper into the cross and my need to surrender every comfort, privilege, right, relationship and want to him. My time and energy do not belong to me.
This last leg of my journey is proving to be the most demanding and challenging. Glad you guys are sharing it with us.
Sola Fide
Sola Gratia
Sola Christos
Hey Katie,
We have a long way to go in the community department, but I am seeing a depth of community wanting to emerge in our midst beyond what I have known previously with one exception.
The experience is exciting, stretching and a little scary, but we are heading full steam into it.
I hope you are experiencing the same same pull into depth of relating.
Even though I'm not a direct part of your experience/community, I so heartily support all that you are doing because I know the kind of people you are, and therefore the kind of people who want to join in supporting what you and your team want to build and see happen in the Horthampton area. It is an honor and blessing and privilege to know you and to receive these updates from you.
Thanks for your uplifting note, Kim. Your kind words bouy my spirit and help strengthen my resolve to keep moving forward as the Spirit directs.
Well, fellow musician, I understand what it is that you do each week. Sharing space with another church requires a great deal of effort in that department (minus the vehicles!). It is a blessing when others step to the plate to help shoulder the burden, especially when they do it without having to be asked and with joy! It's in those moments that I see the face of Christ in the faces of those who work side-by-side in the ministry.
Even though the set-up takes far more time than the facilitating of worship, when I see the results in the faces before me, the work melts away and it's all about doing what God calls me to do.
I couldn't agree more Judy!
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