December 2nd, 2007 – First Sunday of Advent, 20th Anniversary of Creator’s First Worship Service
The worship today fed into a strong sense of community running through many of my church experiences recently. Today Larry, Jan, Doug and Toni all told stories of the first few years of Creator establishing itself as a church. I know these stories for the most part. As Pastor Dayle remarked afterwards, even for those who did not experience all this directly this is part of our story as members of Creator.
There were stories of vision and faith. Pastor Dave Hungerford on his scooter personally inviting people he didn’t know to the first service He was worried who would attend. When a hundred people attended, he acknowledged God had a good idea starting a church here. Part of Jan's message was the strong sense of the congregation knowing that place did not matter - wherever members were gathered, that was church.
Some of the stories were about commitment and resourcefulness. The tubs that became known as “church in a box” used to transport and set up church in the school gym every week. There were no costumes or practice time for Creator’s first Christmas pageant so they worked with children who volunteered as the Christmas story was read. Doug taked about how meaningful and beautiful that was to him.
The worship today fed into a strong sense of community running through many of my church experiences recently. Today Larry, Jan, Doug and Toni all told stories of the first few years of Creator establishing itself as a church. I know these stories for the most part. As Pastor Dayle remarked afterwards, even for those who did not experience all this directly this is part of our story as members of Creator.
There were stories of vision and faith. Pastor Dave Hungerford on his scooter personally inviting people he didn’t know to the first service He was worried who would attend. When a hundred people attended, he acknowledged God had a good idea starting a church here. Part of Jan's message was the strong sense of the congregation knowing that place did not matter - wherever members were gathered, that was church.
Some of the stories were about commitment and resourcefulness. The tubs that became known as “church in a box” used to transport and set up church in the school gym every week. There were no costumes or practice time for Creator’s first Christmas pageant so they worked with children who volunteered as the Christmas story was read. Doug taked about how meaningful and beautiful that was to him.
Leaps of faith came in the commitment of resources and times of uncertainty when Pastor David moved on and a new pastor was needed. Pastor Chris Nolte was called and presided while the the construction of the physical building occurred.
For this anniversary metal chairs were set up throughout the sanctuary as reminders of cold chairs that were set up in the gym that were used during the first years with an afghan draped on one of the metal chairs in memory of the blankets that were used for the congregation to stay warm. There were scrapbooks an other items reflecting the history of Creator on display. Cakes commemorating the anniversary were shared after worship and there will be more twenty year celebrations throughout the year.
In the Men's Group between services we talked about Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. We talked about the certainty and uncertainty that can be felt when you believe you are doing God's work. Our Paul asked questions that had us imagine what we would do and feel in the circumstances the biblical Paul found himself in.
Would we go through the same conversion experience or we concentrate on the injustice or fear that might be felt with having been struck blind? It was a shorter discussion because Pastor Dayle paired each of us several times, before we broke into the general Adult Education and the Men's Group, to answer questions about who we were and where we were worshipping in 1987.
Another opportunity to know individuals better that I believe we all appreciated.
For this anniversary metal chairs were set up throughout the sanctuary as reminders of cold chairs that were set up in the gym that were used during the first years with an afghan draped on one of the metal chairs in memory of the blankets that were used for the congregation to stay warm. There were scrapbooks an other items reflecting the history of Creator on display. Cakes commemorating the anniversary were shared after worship and there will be more twenty year celebrations throughout the year.
In the Men's Group between services we talked about Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. We talked about the certainty and uncertainty that can be felt when you believe you are doing God's work. Our Paul asked questions that had us imagine what we would do and feel in the circumstances the biblical Paul found himself in.
Would we go through the same conversion experience or we concentrate on the injustice or fear that might be felt with having been struck blind? It was a shorter discussion because Pastor Dayle paired each of us several times, before we broke into the general Adult Education and the Men's Group, to answer questions about who we were and where we were worshipping in 1987.
Another opportunity to know individuals better that I believe we all appreciated.
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