It's been an incredible day...we had 24 people join the church today, the vast majority of them on profession of faith (UM speak for 'for the first time')...and as people kept complimenting me on the way out, I found myself saying, "you know, I just show up and play, and great things happen."
I was cautioned to remember that I have had a role in this; I have worked with the young people in particular and been in touch with all the families that joined the church today and those that will be joining in the coming weeks. But I also know that I have worked hard in other places and with other people, and have not had such success...it's a combination of being in the right place at the right time, and maybe also being the right person as well.
Ben and I were talking about prayer at lunch, particularly about how we pray when we are feeling isolated from God or are under stress. He reminded me of a bad day he had in college, when he came back to his room, locked the door, turned his roommate's chair around, and yelled at it for an hour. This is not generally how we picture praying, but I think sometimes it helps us pray to remember that the Incarnation was not a 'one-off' singular event in which God took human form in the person of Jesus Christ from approximately 4 BC to 29 AD (hey, I didn't make the calendar). Instead the Incarnation is on-going, a way that Christ is real to us in our fellowship and worship, and not just a one-time thing. If the Incarnation is real, then we can talk to God however we need to, even if that means yelling, sometimes.
And if the Incarnation is not a singular event, that means that we as the Body of Christ can be the presence of God for people, can literally do the work of God. And we can be wholly honest with God, knowing that he's big enough. Chris Rice has a song about that: "God, if you're there, I wish you'd show me and God, if you care, then I need you to know me. I hope you don't mind me asking the questions but I figure you're big enough...and I imagine the size of the universe, and I wonder what's out past the edges. And I discover inside me a space that's big, and believe that I'm meant to be filled up with more than just questions..."
Anyway, that's the ramble of the day.
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