I Love My Church

It feels so good to love your church....the body of Christ. Tonight was the Christmas Blessing. The neighborhood children put on a Christmas pageant and the church serves dinner to the neighborhood.
I was only there for the pageant and the beginning of dinner but I took in so much just looking around tonight. My friend, Randy, who just took on a new job at Hope Haven as their director, was sitting with a family and talking with the kids. Randy is so perfect for that job and I love watching him interact with people who are struggling and especially with children. Another man who runs Highland's hospitality house sitting with a family and holding children on his lap and talking with them about what is happening. The Whites who show so much love and care to the neighborhood around Highland. Lucy and her friends helping the kids get ready for their performance and then prompting them from the front row with gestures and cue cards. The Highland family greeting those from our neighborhood and making them feel welcome and wanting them to feel the warmth of Christ.
This morning in class we talked about it being the first Sunday of Advent and how we are awaiting the arrival of Jesus. In England some call this Sunday "Stir Up Sunday" and I think it is something we need to use. The prayer said on Stir Up Sunday is this: "Stir up Thy might, we beg Thee, and come." I love it. We then talked about Zechariah 2 and how we can't measure God's kingdom and there is no need to...and that God calls us the apple of his eye. I loved all those images and the words used to describe and the words used in conversation with the angel.
It has been a good day.