Last Thoughts on Yesterday's Lessons

Yesterday the Bishop of the Florida-Bahama's Synod joined us for worship, since we celebrated 50 years of being a church. Our pastor created the service, including an interesting approach to re-consecrating our church and ourselves to our mission in the world. We had new members join. We had four acolytes, four little girls. We had a children's choir (also, all girls) and a grown up choir (yes, all women, except for my husband and the director, who also sings). I was the assisting minister:

The Bishop preached the sermon, and he focused on gratitude. Since it was our 50th anniversary, he focused on the gratitude that we should feel towards our church and the gratitude that our communities should feel for us. He reminded us that in terms of global disaster, the ELCA is usually the first to appear with help, and the ELCA usually stays long after other aid groups have left. It was a feel-good sermon, and that was O.K. with me. I spend a lot of time thinking of ways that I need to improve. I spend a lot of time worrying about the future, both mine and the future of institutions about which I care deeply (like higher education and the ELCA). It's essential to stop occasionally, to remind myself of all the progress I've made, the progress made by those institutions.