Sunday AM. I was awakened by a phone from Dustin. We chatted about life for a few minutes, catching up on the events of the evening prior. As I do every other Sunday spent in Columbia, I then began the process of getting ready for service at Little Bonne Femme. I finished getting ready, grabbed my keys, and headed out the door. I was only a few minutes away from the church when I got another call from Dustin. It was strange to see his name come up on my caller ID again so soon, so I answered fearing bad news.
"Have you left for church yet?" he asked.
"Yes," I said, "Why do you ask?"
"You're going to want to turn around..."
And he continued to inform me that he found an email that said it was a special day at LBF. They gathered early this morning to worship, and then everyone left the church to go participate in a service project together for the rest of the morning. Sadly, I had missed it.
Now, at first, I was pretty disappointed. I've had so few opportunities to worship at LBF this summer with all my traveling, and with my move coming up, I'll only have a few more chances ahead. But the more I thought about it, the more moved I was by an example of the Church, being the Church.
This body of Christ followers had moved outside of its own walls, outside the comfort of the norm, to instead directly impact the community. Unfortunately it seems like the only news we hear these days about the Church is bad news. How refreshing, how happily surprising to see a church try something new! And how wonderful that in doing so, they show the world what it means to be true followers of Jesus!
When I was a part of Watermark, we did that once. I think they do it twice a year now. It was a lot of fun and moving. :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your last week at BSU!
Thanks Kel! I'll definitely try! It's supposed to rain all week in Como. I think that it's Columbia's way of expressing its feelings about my move. ;)
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