Celebration Sunday.

This sunday was a big deal sunday at our church.  We were celebrating the paying off of the mortgage.  The church as a whole has been working towards this for several years with the idea being that the money spent on all the interest could be going to so much better use for ministry in our community and around the world.  It was hard work. It caused some slight divisions for reasons that seem silly now. People sacrificed and forwent raises and gave up tax returns and on and on.  So, it was a big deal.

It also gave me an excuse to finish up my Rooibos dress and get really dressed up. It gave Brian an excuse to wear one of his new suits (which might I say for the record look ridiculously good looking on him. Oh. My!). I bought new dress shirts for the boys and curled my hair.  I think our culture really lacks celebration and reasons to dress up. I mean it seems like we get dressed up for Easter and the Christmas eve service and thats it.  So you can bet I jumped on this opportunity to get really dolled up.

I wasn't the only one! The entire church was filled with excitement and electricity. It was so interesting to be part of such a big celebration that wasn't being celebrated world-wide, or country wide (again Christmas comes to mind) which leant to it a really intimate feel despite the numbers.  It's really hard to put into words what being part of something like that was like. It just made me feel knit together my soul and other souls all lifted up. All integral to the story and to each other...

The boys sitting in the service. They were actually quite
well behaved.

Some of our students.

The service was great, we did a huge praise team and trumpets and guitars the works.  There were three baptisms! Three! That is a lot for our church and it just seemed like the perfect day to usher three new lives into the Lord.  There were tears every where. Then a huge meal. I'm not sure who put the meal on because it wasn't a pot luck, great thanks to whoever did all that. They even had one of those wedding tents set up outside in the cool autumn air, filled with tables, filled with people all enjoying each other.

I have the privilege of frequently playing
beside this talented high schooler.

Finally we did a huge prayer circle outside. Brian was in charge of that so it was done old school youth group style. You all hold hands and Brian starts the prayer then squeezes the hand of the person next to him. They can say a prayer or just continue by squeezing the person next to them. There it goes all the way around until it gets to the person on the other side of Brian (me, eep) and they close. This was a huge one though, the biggest I've ever been part of. Full of so many different ages and genders and even types of praying.  So cool! We had one lady really go forth praying in the Spirit and so many good-will prayers for Gordon and Carla who mean so much to so many of us. One little girl prayed and even though I couldn't make out her words, because she was on the other side of the circle, I could hear her voice floating over all of us like a song. There was even one prayer of thanksgiving for Brian and I; that's pretty humbling. Tears all around.

It was a beautiful Sunday.