Thanks for reading along the last couple of days as I shared with you the pieces and parts of my new office space at the church.
Today I want to share with you
about our very special Dedication Celebration Sunday, which was a day that
meant so much to my heart.
When Ryan and I moved to this area
back in 2022, our church was just embarking on the fundraising for this building
project, and during one of those services, they showed a video of people in the
church gathering around a table…until the table was full and some couldn’t find
a seat. We were challenged to make room at the table for everyone.
So as we opened the service to
celebrate the completion of this project, we played the video again, and all
those in the video made their way to the platform to recreate the scene
in real life. But when the part of the video arrived where the table was full,
the real-life recreation took over and we added a table and made room for new people.
Even though I was part of the
planning team for this part, it was far more powerful in real life than in our
heads. I cried my way through that!
The music was celebratory, and I loved
it!
Last year on Father’s Day (our last
day in our sanctuary before the renovations) I asked the congregation to write
on index cards prayers of thanks for all God had done in that space up to that
time and prayers of hope for the future. At the groundbreaking ceremony at the
end of last June, different people in the congregation read some of those
prayers of hope as we prayed over the ground that would hold our new space. And
then this past Sunday, I reminded them of the day they write those prayers, and
then another group of people read more of those prayers.
The congregation moved outside for the official ribbon cutting…
The staff did a responsive reading
dedication together with the congregation.
And then we cut the ribbon!
We celebrated with cookies and charcuterie
grazing tables. SO YUMMY!!! People could tour the new space at their leisure,
and it was fun to see their reactions.
1 comment:
How wonderful!!
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