Speaking of worship...

Ever walked out of a worship service with an overwhelming feeling that you "got it"? That the sermon, the hymns, the prayers all worked together for you. The Holy Spirit is at work in every worship service for those aha moments.

There are many places the Spirit is at work in worship--and in the days and ages (in the case of our hymns) in preparation. At First Presbyterian, the Spirit is at work in the choir room about 10 am on Wednesdays as Judith, Elizabeth, and whoever is preaching on Sunday choose the music that will help bring the service together.

So it's not really random that things gel on a Sunday morning, since we've spent time as a staff working together on different parts of the service. Most of the time, the hymns, prayers, and sermon fit together as planned--it will seem like as a staff we worked and organized properly. And you walk away with that "I get it"--focused and inspired.

But even on the most planned Sundays, we worship leaders too are amazed at ways God is at work in tying things together even we didn't notice or plan. Those are great moments.

So plan and organize--work and serve--but keep your eyes wide open for all the Holy Spirit moments that maybe be heading your way.

"For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of the light--for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true" (Ephesians 5:8-9)

When I began the whole blog thing, I had intended it to be a bit of Christianity 101--a sort of, did you know... kind of a deal. So, thinking about light shining in darkness and the light of Christ in the world, did you know that our acolytes aren't just fancy and cutely dressed up kids who light the candles up front? Their job is to symbolically bring the light of Christ into the sanctuary at the beginning of the worship service. In that same manner, they bring the light of Christ out into the world at the end of the service.

So there's your interesting worship symbolism for the day.

Let your light shine!

Happy New Year--here's to 2006!

In addition to a whole new year and all the reflecting we do on such occasions, I turned 30 today. Wow! I've probably lived out a third of my life. I've lived three decades. And now in most cultures, I'm officially an adult (unless you're a hobbit--I've got three more years in that case). The last one I had taken hard a few times upon introspection until I let go of the fact that I don't have to act any more adult-like than I already do--which some days is far too much and some days probably isn't nearly enough.

Tom and I stayed up til the wee hours of the morning reminiscing about life, the universe, and everything. The most fun was trying to pinpoint the happiest day of every decade. In my 20s, the answer is easy: June 12, 1999--they day Tom and I were married. Of course, it was fabulous to think of all the runner-up days of days spent on traveling adventures or snowed in during a Michigan blizzard. In my 10s, my 16th birthday has always stuck out as a great day, mostly for the fact that at one point during the day I was moved to tears with the recognition of how blessed I was with friends and family--a pretty significant moment for a self-absorbed 16 year old. And before that, the best day is by far the day that is actually probably about 100 days compressed in the mind to one of sunshine and bike riding and haystack climbing and cops and robbers playing and trampoline jumping and popcicle licking and starwishing day of summer fun.

And it's all wrapped into the one great blessing that is life--the gift of our Creator, breathed into us each and every day.

Happy Birthday to us all!