April 29 Worship: Haiti Sunday

We experienced such an uplifting worship together on Sunday!  Focusing on the ongoing mission to Haiti, including our pledged support of a doctor's annual salary in the Carrefour clinic, we celebrated the opportunities we have to make the world a better place as Christians.  Rev. Karen Yount, who has been to Haiti many times, was able to tell us a little of her experiences there, including her visit in February to the Carrefour clinic.  Our own Sue Short also read a letter from the Haitian pastor, whose church oversees the clinic, telling of the work being done there.

In addition to our regular offering, we collected money to fund the clinic doctor's salary for another year.  Thanks to the generous support of many people, we have now raised enough money for the 2012-2013 year, and will now begin setting aside designated moneys for the doctor's salary in 2013-2014!  And we can thank God that through our help, hundreds of people will receive medical care they otherwise would not.  What a blessed thing that is!

Looking ahead to Sunday, May 6, we will be led in worship by our youth and young adults.   I, for one, am looking forward to these individuals stepping forward and sharing their faith with us, including their joy and hope in Christ.  (Sometimes churches invite people to "see the church of tomorrow" when the youth lead worship -- I think that this is a problem; what we will share on Sunday is not a glimpse of the church of the future, it is a vision of the church that already is -- one that some Christians try hard to push off into unseen corners.  But I digress....)  It should be an interesting and rewarding time for our community of faith.

Also, you might notice that this blog post is a bit overdue.  I have taken the opportunity provided by not preaching this week to outline the two sermon series for this summer, including planning the worship services.  This is a fulfilling, but demanding, activity, especially for those of us who preach in series instead of skipping through the lectionary week after week.  I'm happy to share that there will be five sermons on Abraham, the father of faith, starting in June.  Then in July, I'll continue something that I began four years ago -- preaching sermons based on religious themes in some of this summer's movies.  They'll be more details about that, including opportunities to see the movies with me, in the next couple of weeks.