OUR FIRST SUNDAY

June 7th  —  our first Sunday.  Our service was at 11 and we had five children and nine adults.  The service went well.  At the beginning I asked if anyone had a guitar I could borrow and one of the boys said he had one.  Then the other kids started in: I have a ukulele; me too; and I have a native drum I play; and I have a harmonica.  I suggested we all get together Wednesday night at 5:30 to practice for next Sunday.  They all committed to coming - this aught to be fun.  

After church I went next door to the Assemblies of God church were they were having a picnic.  Asked if Pastor Jack was there but he had left.  Pastor Jack is 78 years old and has committed to serving their church ‘one year at at time’.  This really resonated with me given some of our own faithful, dedicated, retired pastors who keep saying, “one more, then I’m really retiring!”   The people at the Assemblies church were very pleasant and helpful.  Les introduced himself as I helped him load a gas grill into his truck.  He then loaned me a guitar to use while I’m here and invited me to stop by his house sometime to get a spare capo he has.  This church is building a new building.  It is the type that is all steel and they are doing as much of the work themselves as they can.  They too are a pretty small congregation and a few let it be know that they believe this undertaking was either too big or unnecessary.  Nevertheless, the basic structure is up and it will serve them, this community and the Lord well.  

We had communion today and used the ‘ancient rite of intinction’.  They had done this before but it had been some time.  The congregation seemed genuinely glad to celebrate the sacrament together.  It was a great way to start our ministry here.  

The only music in the church is ‘a cappella’ singing because they have no one to play the piano so Carla played the opening to our songs so we could get in tune.  We hope to choose songs the next few weeks that she can help with but she reminds me that she is not a piano player - actually, she did pretty well.

Tonight they have planned a pot luck ‘meet and greet’ at the church.  I’ve already let them know that I’ll do anything for a pot luck or an ice cream social - tonight should be fun!!

I pray that you are all doing well.  

Peace and God’s Blessings,

Alan