Newsletter for this week

Ponderous Thoughts

“We tell stories because we are created by God, and God is a Storyteller.”
--Leonard Sweet, Out of the Question and Into the Mystery

We are shaped by the stories we hear and tell. From the family mythology we grow up with to the day to day happenings we just want to share with a friend, stories have a big role in making us who we are. Whether truthful or “tall tale”, they give us a sense of what we value, how we should be have, what is important to us.
Ann Street has its share of stories that make us who we are. In the Heritage Room, you can see the list of pastors who have served Ann Street, and the few who are buried in the cemetery just outside. Mrs. Alice Windley remembers when the grassy area outside the Eure Building was set aside to build a new sanctuary, in the event fire or some other disaster were to destroy the current one; now we see that that patch of land is too small for all the wonderful folks who worship here each week.
We are still sorting out whether there was ever a slave gallery at our present location, but we can also look down the road and see Purvis Chapel, where our congregation once worshiped, and where another congregation worships today. There used to be a church on every corner of the Burying Ground, but now one stands empty.
Our stories can be beautiful, funny, nostalgic, or painful, and sometimes all at once, as we share what we’ve been through, and how God has been with us through it all. This is how we share our faith: not with tracts, or bringing a friend to church (but don’t stop inviting them!) but because we share the stories that tell about our lives, and about God in our lives, through the good, bad, and everything that’s in between. So tell your story!