Sights and Sounds for a New Season

It’s not a drip, drip, drip…it’s more like a whoosh.  Three separate and succinct chimes. A chorus of amens. A special rattle that goes hiss, hiss, hiss.  The clapping of hands and stomping of feet on the downbeat, and the upbeat, too!  “Peace be unto you, friend.”

These are the sounds of Sardis: K-Cups cranking out coffee, as worshipers nudge sleep from weary eyes. A bell calling us to order. Affirming responses to another beautiful anthem. Maracas made from paper plates, and clapping hands (some in rhythm, some not!) as we sing Halle, Halle, Halle. And a peace, Christ’s peace, that greets us warmly each time we gather.

Cheerios peaking over the rim of a big red container, and JIF peanut butter, too.  A steel pot drying on a dish-rag in the kitchen.  Burlap and cloth strips, and fresh-cut greenery, and candles I didn’t even know we had. Crooked pews that were straight an hour ago. Open notebooks with sheet music spilling out.

These are the sights of Sardis: Another food drive complete. Another potluck supper where all had their fill, and spiritually, too. Another thoughtful worship display created with care. Seats no longer straight, because, hey, when you get up and move around, and greet each other, and hug each other, sometimes a room gets messy!  The anthem’s finished; It’s a gift that’s fleeting — it can’t be netted like a butterfly. But the music left behind, reminds us of notes and key-strikes and melodies that tell us, “God is in this place.”

Sardis Baptist Church, when you gather in this place; when you share in life with one another; when you give praise to a God who is always present, you help make this place a sanctuary.

And in the intervals between our gatherings, I find joy in the evidence of community you leave behind.  And I find my heart eager, racing even, to see what our next gathering will bring.  The details are never the same, but the result is: God’s spirit filling us in the ways we need to be filled.

In the coming year, may we be wonderfully surprised (again!) by God’s consistency.  And may we be aware of the sights and sounds of God that are always present in this place.