Sunday after our service and after briefly visiting the lovely celebration for Mr. and Mrs. Helm's 63rd anniversary - I am being intentionally formal considering the reason for the occasion - I ventured out to Trinity United in Port Greville for the covenanting service between Jamie McLellan and the Parrsborough Shore Pastoral Charge. This is somewhere I used to preach and where earlier this summer the amazing and well-dressed, lol, family of Seldon Benjamin gathered to celebrate his life of gentleness with lots of music.
I was invited into the sanctuary by the afternoon sun pouring through the oversized stain glass window exposed to the western sky. I felt warm inside. It comes from the connection I feel to this community that literally joined together to open a door to my becoming a candidate in the ordination stream of the UCC. I knew in my heart this day I would see the most gracious of people and hopefully hear a good, lively message from Rev. Ivan MacGregor (which I did!), hear Jim lead some inspired singers and share a meal.
But I hadn't anticipated I would be served "the meal." As I took in every inch of the graceful table setting, I felt refreshed even before quenching my hunger and thirst in community. During the precious moments of the sharing of the bread and the cup I remembered my covenant with God is renewed each time I come to table. That I begin again with God, unencumbered by anything that could separate me from the peace God wants for me and through me.
Through word, music, art, and sacrament,
in community and solitude,
God changes our lives, our relationships, and our world. A Song of Faith 2006
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