What a delightful day of Worship last Sunday!
We decided to try to do a "relationship-building" festival, and it came on Valentines Day weekend. The School families were invited; the 4s and PreK kids were invited to sing (about 80 kids) and they all showed up! We started the day with a pancake breakfast in the gym (there were about 300 who had preregistered from the school for the meal) and it was originally scheduled for 9:00 am. Well, as the registrations started coming in we knew a 9 o'clock b-fast and 10:00 worship wasn't going to work, so email blasts went out to some to come and 8:30 and some to come at 8! And that worked! We served a TON of pancakes and no one was ever in a line for more than 5-7 minutes! Since we've never tried this before, we can only thank the Lord for the smoothness! I "played the room" throughout breakfast, and met soooo many families as the kids said, "Pastor Dan, this is my ....!" How great was that.
10:00 finally arrived and we sat in a heart shape ...
about 100 chairs, set up on Saturday; tables for the meal surrounded the heart
about 100 more; praise team led from the bottom point of the heart; kids artwork on the back/side walls
altar area - I preached from the circle "in the round" as it were; the back wall ended up with about 100 more chairs on Sunday
A red heart marked out the floor; but you must remember we only have about 300 chairs in the gym! We ended up with 369 men women and children in all! Many lined the room on the back and side walls. And nobody complained. As the people arrived they were given red hearts for name-tags - each heart had a "work of mercy" on it (Instruct the Learner; Comfort the Afflicted; Feed the Hungry ... etc. - had printed up 14 different phrases 10 times (for 280 tags) and that was surpassed before breakfast was over; so the receptionists made their own tags.
If you've heard the message for the day on the website, you know just how noisy it was - but WHAT A GREAT NOISE!!! Following worship there was a Scavenger Hunt that got all the people (members and school families alike) into the classroom so that all can see what happens in the classrooms here. There was a hidden object in each room that the folks had to find, and then would get their "passport" stamped and move on to the next room. More than 200 participated in this event.
My prayer for the week is still, "God, you are so good! May the folks who came appreciate all the more the love you have for each and every one of us! And may we, PoP Church AND School continue to grow together in that love as well. Amen."
I was so exhausted after the morning, I think I had a 2 hour nap! And so did my bride! I guess we vicariously wear each other out - heh, heh!
Til next week,
Love ya.
Karina and Dan
What a great post and what a great series of ideas. I am assuming your committee on worship helped with the implementation...you know...that committee that did the cool advent series of banners.
ReplyDeleteAnyway...I quickly read it and then made YOUR BROTHER read it and he concurred with my above thoughts. I need to re-read it all and then listen to the sermon.
A well-deserved 2 hr nap also. Not sure I could lay still for 2 hr, but normally after Wed rehearsal and/or Sun morning worship/anthem waving - I'm ready for a napperoo myself. Not the same as your vocation, but putting yourself out there in such gregarious and energy expending ways takes its toll eventually - unless you thrive on that level!
I'm still patiently waiting for some sort of post on the Christmas presents. Perhaps you could snap a pix of your super duper weather machine and maybe a pix of Mrs. W at Bernie. (Bernie is out of the box - isn't she?!!??)
thanks for the complimentary words! The excitement of the day is still keeping a smile on my face. however, to the last paragraph, "let me say this about that"
Deletethe weather station is up and running.
Bernie is staying warm in her original packaging. She will be making an entrance soon - as soon as I get the office area of the family room complete, so that Bernie can have her appointed workspace in the Red Room.
bad news - it all takes time.
good news - with Karina's job change she is swamped and hasn't had the time to relax and sew ... just to relax! She still leaves at 7, and gets home about 6:30 - a looooong day! But her excitement with the new position is contagious!
d
Let's see, Mom would have maybe said: "Wow! That was really something!" 'Hearts' off to you, Pastor Dan and all the people involved in making it the worshipful experience that it certainly was for everyone! Always exciting when there are more that participate than originally planned for, but, that gives opportunity to 'rise to the occasion' for the workers. Congratulations!
ReplyDelete(...And Judy, don't sell yourself short on the need for a nap after your activities. All vocations are equal in God's sight when done to the glory of God. Take your due nap whenever it's needed.)
I've come back to read this entry several times, because I just can't get enough of the ENERGY and ENTHUSIASM the members of your congregation, school and community have showed through their attendance and participation. And the same goes for all the staff and volunteers. It is easy to be discouraged in parochial education when we don't think it's going "our way." But GOD'S WAY is always the right path and through events such as this, we praise Him for guiding us and not leaving us to our own selfish expectations. What a marvelous witness to the LOVE of Jesus -- a beacon of light to the world!
ReplyDelete