Yet another milestone in our journey together; our very first public worship service. It is yet another reminder that we are just at the beginning of our journey together; and another reason to celebrate with one of Simon’s wonderful cakes!
MCC Europe News sent out a special notice congratulating The Village MCC on its first service. We had emails of congratulation from our moderator; Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, from Ines-Paul of MCC Cologne, from the board of MCC Brighton, from Kevin at River of Life, from Rev. Margarita Sanchez De Leon who works with the Office of emerging ministries, from Yochen, our Network Coordinator, and if I began to add the facebook comments we’d run out of space really quickly!
We are in the thoughts and prayers of others today. We are upheld by the encouragement and well-wishing of a great crowd of friends and fellow MCC’ers. We may be a small fledgling group, but we are definitely not alone.
I believe that we also joined in worship today by God’s Holy Spirit. It is alive and flowing in the space between us. It is at work within us. It is available to us in full measure as a blessing and for healing. It is God’s presence meeting us in our worship offering, and the heart of Christ reaching out from us. We may be few in number but we are definitely not alone.
I believe that we have been called from the LGBTQ community, whether we identify as LGBTQ or support those who do. I believe that we are primarily called to serve those same communities. We are called to provide a spiritual home where those like us can find the opportunity to create a relationship with God. They are out there, with probably no idea of what God is doing here, and will come to us when the time is right. They are a part of us even if they have not yet arrived. We may be few in number but we are definitely not alone.
As we take these steps together, leaning into God and each other, I pray that we are blessed. I pray that God grant us open hearts to feel His presence, and open minds to see her Hand. I pray that we make lots of mistakes, learn from them, and from one another. I pray that we continue to learn together what it means to be the body of Christ and how to serve God better. We are church!
Much love
Rev. Michael