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.