Service & Stewardship

Quilts, Duvets or Blankets

I need to borrow some old quilts, duvets or blankets. During the work on the Fellowship Hall floor, the grand piano (which belongs to First Christian Church,) will be stored in the hallway outside the mechanical room on the ground floor. It needs to be protected from scratches and dust and incidental bumps and scrapes. A few quilts, duvets or blankets would just do the trick. We have been made stewards of a very fine, nine foot, Chickering grand piano. Let us then be good stewards and take good care of it. These can be returned to the lender/s when the piano is rolled back into fellowship hall. Thanks, Mr. Tim

Reflections & Music

“Calling them like I see them”

This past Sunday, we got to baptize Matthew Miller, which is always a high honor. As a part of the traditions that we’ve built together over the past several years, we also give baptismal candidates a river stone, a towel, and a candle. They all represent different aspects of what it means to be a Christian. We also took communion, which always speaks powerfully during a worship service. As such, the altar table was pretty full this past Sunday!

Water and fire. Bread and cup. Soft towel and cold stone. Elements that speak in their own unique voices.

I’ve found few things more mesmerizing than fire or water. I heard someone say one time that any group of people that gathers around a fire instantly becomes a community. I think I buy that! I’ve certainly experienced it. But the same could be said of water. Anytime there is water, we are pulled to touch it, aren’t we? We have to teach children to NOT touch water sometimes. What do they say in worship service? That we are community. That we are drawn together.

In the same way, one of the quickest ways I know to shortcut to a better friendship is to sit down to food and drink with someone. We all must eat and drink to survive and sharing that act with someone is binding in some way. Is that why we feel it when we take a morsel of bread and a tiny cup together?

A cozy, comforting towel and an oddly shaped stone. One makes you feel safe and secure and the other you almost can’t help but to roll around in your hand, feeling its different facets. What are we in worship? Beloved children of God, held deeply and warmly. But we are also holding a mystery that we can’t quite ever settle with, can never be satisfied with a full understanding.

On our best Sundays, and last Sunday qualifies as that for me, we manage to speak in many different ways. Not just with sermons and prayers. But with notes that touch the rhythm of our hearts, with symbols that point to something deeper than words, and with movements and tokens and moments. When we do it well, we feel it.

But what about you? You are a symbol, too. You are pointing to something. What are you pointing to?

Peace, Rory

Before His Presence with Singing

“And bids me at my Father’s throne.”

Have you ever thought of prayer as a person? That’s what today’s hymn does. It is the very familiar hymn, “Sweet Hour of Prayer.” Clever of William Walford, the writer, to anthropomorphize prayer – assign a human face and body to it, and put us in a conversational, transactional relationship with it. Does prayer sometimes call to you? Bid you to come? Welcome you in and wrap you in welcoming arms? It does me.

There is a real jewel hidden in this hymn if you truly mine the scripture reference found in the subtle mention of Mt. Pisgah. The line is, “till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height, I view my home and take my flight.” Mt. Pisgah is especially significant in the life of Moses. After leading Israel for 40 years through the dessert, he climbs Mt. Pisgah to see the Promise Land.

Walford goes on to paint a graphic picture of life’s end. “This robe of flesh I’ll drop…” We need to remember from time to time that these bodes are temporary. Mere robes, and quite removable in the end. “…and rise.” Another subtle reminder. Not just rise as in look up. But “rise” as in, rise with Christ, the everlasting prize.

And finally, I like pondering the final hint in Walford’s lyric. We’ll “shout, while passing through the air, ‘farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!’” In other words, there will come a time when we no longer need this sweet hour of prayer, for we will be intimately in the presence of the One to whom we pray.

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
that calls me from a world of care,
and bids me at my Father’s throne
make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
my soul has often found relief,
and oft escaped the tempter’s snare
by thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
thy wings shall my petition bear
to Him whose truth and faithfulness
engage the waiting soul to bless;
and since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer.

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
thy wings shall my petition bear
to him whose truth and faithfulness
engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since he bids me seek his face,
believe his word, and trust his grace,
I’ll cast on him my every care,
and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

In Christ, Tim

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