October 19th, 2008 – Many of us love religion all too much and God all too little. We love ourselves too much and the world too little

- Erwin McManus

During the Congregational Conversation after the service Pastor Dayle talked about worship being the work of the people and how she disliked Sunday services where that was not the case. She experienced some services like that during her sabbatical.

I begin with Pastor Dayle’s remark because David invited me to play this Sunday with Lisa. It is a deep delight and joy to contribute to Creator’s worship music on either side of a microphone. And Pastor Dayle is right, I don’t think most people would consider music and the word of the liturgy as something they passively hear but are actively involved in at Creator.

We started with David’s The Path to You. A new perspective, a new voice emerged while we sang David’s song. Today, a part of the song swelled in volume as these words were sung, “In this quiet moment / Fill me with Your presence / Find me, guide me / Show me the path.” Sometimes the music stresses the outside quiet of the moment. Today the swelling volume pointed to how loud the presence can feel or how loud the cry of “find me, guide me” can feel from the heart.

The setting for the worship was Call Us Home. Susan express in the Congregational Conversation how she felt the service’s word and music with new meaning through thoughts and feelings surrounding her mother’s death.

There was a Camp Lutherwood presentation where we learned a song called Mercy is Falling. They talked about a theme for this year Get Drenched which is all about recognizing how we get drenched in God’s love. Tyler, who is in charge of Camp Lutherwood, ended the presentation with a talk about the values of Lutherwood.

We welcomed a new member during the service, Jill. We were told she is currently living with pancreatic cancer and, in her career, had worked for Adidas. In a conversation with her afterwards I found myself caught up in her spirit and courage. Her enthusiasm for our congregation was evident in our talk.

Today the sermon was about the hidden hand of God in working through the tyrant Cyrus to have the Hebrews return from their exile that came from the First Reading. Pr. Dayle spoke about the Gospel as well, the coin of the realm and rendering unto the Emperor that which is the Emperor’s.

She pointed out that Martin Luther wrote about the left and right side of the Kingdom of God. The left is all about the law, the church, the government and the right is about Gospel and grace. It was interesting to hear after reading “The Shack” by William Young, a book that many in the congregation are reading right now but I will save my thoughts on that book until another time.

The children who were part of Holy Family Episcopal sang with their families during the offering a song called Make a Joyful Noise. They played kazoos and there was a percussive clap that was completely endearing.
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There was a Congregational Conversation after the service that I mentioned throughout this blog entry but I will report about the conversation in its own entry.