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. – Romans 15:13

A shoot will grow up from the stump of Jesse;
    a branch will sprout from his roots.
 The Lord’s spirit will rest upon him,
    a spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    a spirit of planning and strength,
    a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
 He will delight in fearing the Lord.
He won’t judge by appearances,
    nor decide by hearsay.
 He will judge the needy with righteousness,
    and decide with equity for those who suffer in the land. (Isaiah 11:1-4)

My previous post talked about the inspiration and the power of the installation service hosted here at Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church this weekend. Today includes the balance of the photographs.

Any time there is a regional gathering there are a lot of people taking part. So you can likely count on somewhere close to a dozen ordained clergy playing some role or other.

This is one of the reasons I love the Presbyterian Church. It’s the sense of community, of encouragement and of shared purpose.

There are a couple of photographs, at the end of the celebration of The Lord’s Supper, especially worth paying attention to. You can see where a little girl (the daughter of one of the preachers) has parked herself in front of the communion table. She stayed for a few minutes, helping herself to a little more of the bread, then a little more, and licking out several of the discarded juice cups.

In my heart, watching her from the end of the aisle, she was helping herself to extra grace, extra mercy, extra hope, extra joy, extra love, extra Jesus.

There is an extravagance to the outpouring of God’s goodness and promise in Jesus that sometimes becomes muted in the more formal context of liturgy, and robes, and multiple ministers, and brightly colored stoles, and the extra pontificating and officiousness that can come along with a roomful of ministers.

But not this time. Not in this particular gathering.

Maybe this is our invitation into the riches of God’s kingdom, maybe a little child really shall lead us?

The wolf will live with the lamb,
    and the leopard will lie down with the young goat;
    the calf and the young lion will feed together,
    and a little child will lead them. (Isaiah 11:6)