Last Sunday (October 25) was my official installation as the "Assistant Minister to Youth and Young Adults" at Richmond Beach Congregational, United Church of Christ. I didn't expect much. After all, it was a simple, one-page litany to be read somewhere in the middle of the service, between a song and a scripture reading - five minutes maximum, something that had to be done to make me completely official. I figured, "installations" are something you do with hardware in a kitchen. I didn't expect much.
Then, what actually happened last Sunday took me by surprise. I stood up on the front stage, three steps higher than the congregation, between the lectern and the pulpit, between Pastor Joy and our moderator. It is always a bit of a sacred moment to be in front of a congregation and to see all the faces turned toward you, waiting expectantly. Joy read her affirmation of my calling and asked me if I would serve the church to the best of my ability. "I will, relying on God's grace." The moderator spoke and then the congregation. As we bowed our heads in prayer, I could not help the few small and silent tears that came.
This is what it feels like to be called by a church. They don't even know that I don't really belong in a suburban UCC church. Or maybe it's that they know I belong there, can serve there, can covenant with them, in ways that I haven't yet realized.
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Of course you belong there. God is there. People are there. Faith and God are rather non-denominational, I think. Being with a different group is sort of like putting on a different pair of sunglasses to look out at the same scene. The scene doesn't change, although we see it with a slightly different hue.
Congratulations!
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