today was an emotional day. our youth moved sunday school classes, we had our "ordinary times" contemplative worship. all would be energy draining on their own merit's however, today also was gin's (our youth minister) last youth worship. i am very grateful for our youth, they are marvelous young people in handling her leaving. we had moments
during our worship as they moved from prayer meditations that they created where they would come to comfort each other, smile and play. it was something special. my heart with them, but also with gin as this is something she has helped nurture in them for the past two years. our story ends with her ministry this week as our youth minister, but we continue the narrative of our spiritual lives. i am encouraged by our youth that they will be able to navigate a life that is a blessing to her life and others.
on my personal life, today is my parents last day in my "home church" as i have called it for the last 20 years. first umc in moorestown new jersey is a place i have called home even when i have only graced the doors a handful of times in the past six years. to me this place gave me a foundation for the great place church can be, not because of a great worship (it was one of those youthfully exciting traditional worships) or preaching (i never connected with the minister of my early years there), but because of the people who weaved their way in and out of my life. i learned what it could be to be Christian through these people. my mom wrote a good-bye to everyone through the church newsletter here are some excepts that are particularly meaningful.
- When we drove by Cinnaminson's Methodist Church Shawn ,who was 10 at the time, exclaimed we couldn't go to that church as everyone died there, seeing the cemetery that circled the property
- Carol Griffiths.We hadn't been in the house for even a week, the refrigerator was still sitting in the middle of the kitchen waiting to be fitted into its spot.Carol sat and filled us in on everything that went on with the church and community and made us all feel so welcome. Carol is certainly a bright spot still with this church and I know still helps folks feel welcome when they move to the area..
- Bob and Sylvia Kessler included us with their Memorial Day celebrations and cookouts that they had.We always felt like a part of their family as they took an interest in our family when we first moved to the area.
- Bill tells stories of their trips around the country with the bellchoir tours and there were many great memories from those years and their trips to Mountain Top Tennessee...
- ..youth coming to the house for parties and whether it was just to jump on the trampoline or come for a Super Bowl party our house was always a fun house for the youth it seemed.
- Gavin and Shawn were no angels and had their share of getting in trouble and I remember a time when they decided to see how many pencils they could get stuck in the ceiling in Sunday school.
- rev. conaway, rev. harlan baxter, glenn rodgers & family
i have my own memories that are separate from my mother and father's. these strike me as significant because these are things shared within our family. good or bad, we all lived through these people or moments.
i have come to enjoy thinking of my life and the lives around me as this intermingled narrative of spiritual workings. thanks to God, i am in the place i am today because of the narrative weavings of these people and this place called first umc moorestown. the narrative continues.
