And Then There Was More

Dear MRC Family,

Pentecost blessings to you in this season of Ordinary Time

What a beautiful and moving worship we had last Sunday. When our young people sang John Lennon’s “Imagine” it was all I could do not to sob, as I prayed for a world that was imagined in that song. Watching you all come up and get your Light also moved me, as I sensed you all understood the holiness of that moment as you picked the candle — hope, peace, justice, empathy — that represented your prayers for the year.

Worship

It’s what we do as Church, and so much more.

As I was studying for my sermon this week, I read these words from Barbara Brown Taylor in her book An Altar in the World and I thought of us:

I more or less knew what my job was inside those doors, (church) and the rewards of doing it were clear. Engaging in ancient rituals with people as ordinary as I was, I watched their faces open to reveal night skies full of stars. Who would ever have imagined they carried so much around within them? Turning aside from everything else we could have been doing, we did things together in those sacred spaces that we did nowhere else in our lives: we named babies, we buried the dead, we sang psalms, we praised God for our lives. When we did, it was as if we were building a fire together, each of us adding something to the blaze so that the light and heat in our midst grew. Yet the light exceeded our fire, just as the warmth did. We did our parts, and then there was more. There was More.

Worship

It’s what we do as Church, and so much More.

Come and worship this Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost and let us build a fire together, and continue to shine our Light. Tom will lead us in our hymns and sing the Prelude “Tomorrow” and the Anthem “The Reason We Sing.” I am preaching from Genesis 27.1-4, 15-23; 28.10-17 — Jacob, the trickster and his dream of angels ascending and descending — and my sermon title is Waking Up to God. Also, we will come to the table of God’s table of grace and welcome and celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper by intinction. We will be streaming live (fingers crossed) on our YouTube channel, MRC: A Fabulous Church of Love.

Whatever you are carrying this week, whatever you are holding, I look forward to seeing your face “open to reveal night skies full of stars” as we worship together, each one of us adding to the blaze of the Light.

Keep following and bothering Jesus, beloved.

With gratitude for the privilege of being your pastor and the holy call of loving you,

Pastor Trish