May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. – Romans 15:13-14
Sunday was as close to perfect as days get. A good walk with Max while the coffee makes; relaxed breakfast with Rebekah; strolling down the street for church; lemonade on the lawn after; lunch with people we love; a round of golf where the temps push maybe 77-degrees and the scoring significantly north of that; dinner and a quiet evening with Rebekah; then another good walk with Max before finishing up an interesting novel and falling asleep in our beautiful new home.
Church was especially poignant because it was Rebekah’s last time in the pulpit here. The big celebration was last week as everyone disappears Memorial Weekend. But God’s love was very much in evidence and we enjoyed worship “in spirit and in truth.”
Rebekah of course preached from her heart, and I don’t care who brings the message and how many thousands tune in, there is nobody anywhere who brings more authenticity and integrity and joy to the way they deliver the good news than her.
I did the children’s message, and even though almost every single child at this church was at the beach one little girl – Penelope – was brave enough to join me on the chancel steps. And she did beautifully, offering exactly the kind of answers I was hoping for.
At the benediction Rebekah had everyone raise their hands too, so we were all blessing one another. It was a visual representation of what is already happening, every week and every day, the mutual blessing of such an affirming community.
I even upped my game a little playing golf with David and Chauncey. But I should not be surprised because it was that kind of a day.
Like I said, picture-perfect. So – for now – I will let the pictures do the talking and conclude this post with the following verse from John’s gospel.
Out of [God’s] fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. – John 1:16
Such truth; such light; such hope; such love – DEREK
