We’re finally a real church
This past Sunday was an awesome morning! Some people even view us as a real church now because we had our first communion service.
Going into the morning there was a clear sense that God was calling us to lead the everyone into a time of rest and refueling. Holiday weekends expose many of us to past hurts, wounds, and disappointments. In my first few conversations of the morning this was further solidified in that I heard stories of celebrating without a loved one, adjusting to parents getting older, and frustration with siblings.
The staging alone lended itself to more of a reflection time. We were blessed by the Bridge View Center leaving decorations up from an event earlier in the weekend and then we did our own thing with rugs, candles, and plants.
Adding to that we went unplugged with our worship. Kate played a Grand Piano that we rented, Jesse played an upright base, and Matt strummed along on the acoustic guitar.
The morning was different then any other we had done. We did two worship songs and then I gave a brief message that had the emphasis on all of us pour ourselves out and rare are the times that we get thanks. We centered on the scripture of Jesus healing the 10 lepers. Then Kate played the piano while we reflected on some questions I had wrote. Then I gave another brief message and this one was centered on the Luke account of Communion. From there we moved into a time of Communion and Matt and the team closed us out with a few songs.
Attendance was funny. We anticipated a smaller crowd with it being a high travel day. There are usually 40/50 people there at 9:30 but this Sunday there were only 15/20. Then around 9:55 people started coming through the doors left and right. It was our lowest launch team attendance so far but one of our highest attended services to date. 150 took communion and our nursery had a new high for the number of kids checked in.
I’ve very pumped about our new series “Drive Thru Jesus” that kicks off this weekend.
