Stepping out in Faith

For several weeks prior to Palm Sunday, we used the phrase, “Stepping out in Faith” as the theme of our new relationship with Iglesia Pentecostes Maranatha. Since early January, when we were first contacted by Maranatha Church, there had been much excitement about all that our two Churches could accomplish together at 4418 Bridgetown Road. There were, of course, agreements to hash out, insurance coverages to discuss, rent to be determined, and many other things to negotiate. It was a busy couple of months that led up to April 1st. And then it became reality. Attendance for both Churches was exemplary. (It didn’t hurt that it was Palm Sunday.) Expectations were high. I will admit, though, to a sense of nervousness on my part. Would everything go as planned? Would the interpreters get every word? Would the Spanish name tags arrive in time? Tension was in the air. (At least in the air around me.) After our Procession of the Palm, led by Rev. Ruth Brandon and me, we welcomed our new friends at the front of the sanctuary. We exchanged greetings in both English and Spanish. And then the most wonderful thing happened. A very unplanned event took place. I said, “Now, won’t you come and greet the members of Maranatha Church.”Frankly I expected a few folks to come forward and shake a hand or two. I had even prompted Barb Bucey to get up and start the greetings just in case there was no movement at all. What happened next was one of the greatest moments in my 40 year ministry. Every able bodied Pilgrim member on hand came forward with outstretched hands and arms in the most welcoming event I had ever seen. There were Pilgrim folks who had dusted off their Spanish so they could give a greeting in Maranatha Church’s native tongue. There were hugs and hand shakes galore. Adults greeted children and vise versa. Old men bent way down to shake the hands of four year olds, each with big smiles. There was koinonia (community). The spirit of God was at work. What we had called, “Stepping out in Faith,” was really a slogan we had adopted to make sure we recognized that it would take a great amount of faith to make this thing work. I really had not given a lot of thought to what it would look like. What we saw that day was indeed faith taking a giant step. This process took twenty minutes and nobody seemed to mind. It was Pilgrim United Church of Christ at its best. It was allowing God to lead. IT WAS THE BRGINNING. Now we are about the task of learning from each other. Already Maranatha Church is helping with the yard work. Plans are afoot to get involved in English as a Second Language classes. Maranatha folks will be helping us with our Spanish and teaching us Hispanic cooking. The list is endless. Let’s keeping walking in faith. Earlier I used the word koinonia. Look it up.

Confirmation Sunday

On Sunday, June 3, 2012, our Confirmation class will be formally recognized and taken into full membership in the church. It will be a festive day of first Holy Communion, taking of membership vows as well as picture taking and congratulations. The worship service itself will take on a celebratory tone as we welcome our two newest members. But, it will be so much more. Our two confirmands, Hannah Basil and Zachary Martz, have been hard at work since October studying and dissecting what it means to be first a Christian and, then, a member of Pilgrim UCC. These two bright and inquisitive young people have demonstrated a fantastic grasp of Church history and the Church’s place in the history of civilization. They indeed understand the integration of the religious and the secular. June 3rd will be a celebration of their progress toward that goal. Please plan to be on hand for this most important step in the lives of these two young people.