The usual Monday Morning Sermon is going to have to become a Tuesday Morning Sermon this week. I've been busy with multiple things since I woke up this morning and I don't have the stamina for deep theological thinking right now.
However I do want to take a second to marvel at everything that's going on around us in the season of Advent at church! When we were first talking about this months ago I never could have dreamed what it's become! You're seeing the fruits of everybody's labors. Just as interesting, though, is the process through which those labors have come to fruition.
The standard model of doing church stuff is for the different committees to work on their own projects. Generally they don't interact except to make sure that they're not stepping on each others' toes, scheduling things on top of each other and such. This Advent thing was different. It totally spread like a weed! Instead of five different committees working on different projects, all of them ended up working on the same project, each bringing their own unique perspective! Worship started the ball rolling with their mini-planning committee. (We're forming one for the season of Lent soon too. Jump on board while you can!) Then education chimed in with ideas for Sunday School participation. They got some ideas back in return from Worship. Outreach and Social folded in cookies and caroling. People started consulting the buildings and grounds guys for ideas on how to set things up physically. Then it started really getting out of control. We needed some help with decorations so folks went to the craft ladies group on Tuesday night. The musicians didn't meet with a big plan in mind. They just got together and starting adding their own twists to familiar hymns. We got the idea of everybody taking the Advent journey together through the walking communion. Witnesses and nativities started popping up. Random ladies started bringing flowers. Different people started tending and double-checking candles. All of a sudden we all found ourselves dancing together in this big, crazy, yet somehow soothing and uplifting movement. Young and old, guys and gals, serious folks and casual...everybody was doing their thing, all geared towards this big communal project.
Hasn't it been grand?
And oh my, we've got to do more of this! That's not to say that everything will be as different as this Advent has been. Many of the things we do together will be more subtle. But the days of figuring out who had responsibility for which thing so that they could do it and nobody else...those have passed us by, I think. We shouldn't be a church of "Me and Not You". We should be a church of, "Hey everybody, let's do an Us Thing!"
I look forward to even more "Us Things" in the future. I hope you do too and will find your way to jump on board!
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
P.S. Don't forget Christmas Eve service on the 24th at 7:00 p.m. and the Christmas Day service which will be an opportunity to celebrate and remember our loved ones at 11:00 a.m. on the 25th. You can invite friends to either!
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