In recent weeks, I have walked through the rooms and the hallways of the church for the first time, opening doors I have never opened before. As many doors as I have opened and used for the first time, there are still closets and spaces I have never seen. Each room has a story. Around each corner of each hallway, I learn more about what happens every week in this place of worship, fellowship, study, and ministry. [pullquote_right width=”50%”]It is good to pause from time to time to give thanks and to celebrate the ministries that happen in and through the rooms and hallways of the church.[/pullquote_right]
Venturing through the large rooms of the Activities Building, where Sunday School classes, committees, youth, and college students gather, I noticed the counter tops in the kitchen, which become platforms for meals and ministry each week. People of all ages gather in that space to prepare meals and to enjoy meals on those counter tops. Community forms in those rooms as food becomes the reason for prayer and deep conversation, but those counter tops reach further than I first noticed.
Each Tuesday, Sunday School classes throughout the congregation bring food that has been prepared for people throughout the community. They come to plate the meals, serving others by feeding those in need. In partnership with the Salvation Army, the Loaves and Fishes ministry prepares plates each week, which are then delivered throughout the community. The counter tops become a platform for the love of God, as we offer our blessing not only over the meal, but also over the lives of those we serve.
It is good to pause from time to time to give thanks and to celebrate the ministries that happen in and through the rooms and hallways of the church. There are an array of ministries we could celebrate, not having room to mention all of them or even an incomplete list of them, but we give thanks for all the work of the church. The Loaves and Fishes ministry involves so many hands in the congregation each week, reaching out to so many hands in the community.
We are also part of a larger circle of hands through the Salvation Army, serving the community. As we walk through the rooms and hallways of the church, we can remember in a spirit of celebration how all of the hands of the church join together in so many ministries each week, bearing and bringing the grace of God to others. In the rooms and hallways of this place, we do well to ask and talk about the work of the hands of the church, finding ways to join our hands with the hands of others.