On Monday we celebrated the MLK holiday with about 50 folks from our congregation who gathered at Cross-Lines Community Outreach to stock the shelves for the Community Food Bank. Energy hummed throughout the warehouse where teenagers, grandparents, preschoolers, and parents teamed up to label the fruit with the price gun, assemble celebration kits with cake mix, frosting and balloons, cut egg cartons in half that were filled with eggs (tricky but fun and only a few eggs sacrificed), bundle paper goods, and a host of other team tasks to help nourish families who are food insecure right here just a few miles from our building. Laughter and camaraderie filled the room as we worked fast and focused to make ready the healthy food that families can obtain with dignity and choice. It was not only a great way to honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s service to our country but also a great way to live out the gospel. But more than that it was plain fun. Fun to work as a team. Fun to engage in intergenerational activities where all gifts were valued and needed. I departed in the negative 7-degree weather feeling warm and toasty. What was that feeling about?
Something similar happened on Christmas Eve. It was a long day. Staff gathered at church around 2 pm and we didn’t get in our cars to go home until after midnight. But at all four services, you could feel the energy pulsing in the room. Kids wiggled with excitement. Visitors found their way into the pews. Families settled in to breathe a sigh of relief after a hectic month. Folks were there, not just to hear a message or enjoy the fabulous music but also to belt out “Joy to the World” and raise their candles to the achingly beautiful “Silent Night”. This year we added a service at 3:30 so we all worried it might dilute attendance, but the opposite occurred, with 33% more folks attending this year than last. What was that feeling of upliftedness that soared within us?
I’m reminded of a great line from The Color Purple by Alice Walker:
“Have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God.”
Thank you for sharing God!
