Celebration Sunday

Yesterday was Celebration Sunday at church, the end of our 40 days of prayer and fasting and the culmination of our giving campaign, where we have all been praying about how we can contribute to purchasing our building and upfitting it to include children's classrooms. I've loved how this campaign has been about becoming part of this new phase of our church life, where we actually get to become owners of a piece of land and a building where people can worship God even beyond our own lifetimes.

I've felt a sense of shared purpose in our church over the past 40 days--remarkably (for a time of fasting), it's been really joyful. Our treasurer said at one meeting that he had initially been skeptical about this idea of corporate fasting ("isn't it supposed to be just you and God?"), but that he had then repeatedly come across passages in the Bible about whole nations fasting together ("Okay, God, I get it!"). People have either chosen to fast on certain days from food, or to fast from certain things for all 40 days. I think there is something special about fasting from food entirely, but I also think that all of the little things we are giving up have been reminders to us, every day for 40 days, that we are all involved in seeking God together about our places in our church. It confers a sense of ownership to make any kind of sacrifice, however great or small, on behalf of something larger than yourself.

So, anyway, yesterday we had a big party--turkey dinner potluck, the works. The MC was back in town and we made a video to show at the service. This one was probably our first truly collaborative effort, where from start to finish we worked on it together. Which, of course, meant that it took twice as long. And had to be done under more rushed conditions than ideal. But when I look at it, it's also kind of neat to see places where each of us improved on the other's ideas, and to know that the final product is the better for it, for whatever it's worth.

growth