My Favorite Part

I love to start new things.  It energizes me.  A blank notebook… A sharpened pencil… A new year… A new book… A new box of crayons… A new project… A new game… A new anything!  I love love love.  This week we’re asking members of the new journey campus family to share their one favorite memory of launch Sunday.  Thought I’d quickly share my own…

I could list a book full, but at the top of the list for me was a moment – a single second, if even that long – that summed up the meaning and the power of the whole day. 

To give some background info:

We’ve started with two identical worship gatherings – one at 9:30 & one at 11:00.  And although this is unusual for a new church plant, it serves an important purpose.  Since we’re offering amazing environments for preschoolers-tweens at 11:00, (where consistent leaders partner with parents by investing in the lives of children), a 9:30 worship gathering provides those servant-leaders the opportunity to worship together each & every Sunday.  I was surprised to see the 9:30 worship gathering the more packed of the two.  Centennial Hall was full of people in First Look and UpStreet t-shirts who got their portable classrooms ready in time to make it into Centennial for the Ten Before!  It was full of Road Crew volunteers & Guest Services volunteers who had been there ALL morning – some since as early as 5:30am – to get ready environments where we can lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

To give some more background info:

The Lord has blessed me with the calling of a mother.  It’s my priority ministry, and it’s also come to serve as my defining ministry.  Years ago I struggled with my role as a pastor’s wife, but many of my questions were answered when He spoke through a seasoned, secure role model: “You’re the mom of the house.”

Now to my favorite part:

In a wedding, after the bridesmaids and the flower girl have walked down the aisle, the back doors are closed and the music is paused before a great crescendo of the introduction to “Here Comes the Bride.” My favorite moment in every wedding is seeing the face of the groom as those doors fly open and his bride is ushered in on the arm her father… breathtakingly beautiful, secure in the love of her beloved, adorned in splendor.  Though all other eyes are on the bride, no matter where I’m seated I adjust myself so that I can see the face of the groom at that moment.  It’s my favorite part. 

Yet just before that, there’s another beautiful part of the ceremony, often taken for granted or overlooked.  Although the congregation is seated during the processional of the bridesmaids, upon the sound of that crescendo and in perfect timing with the opening of those doors, the mother of the bride stands, thereby signaling the entire house to stand. 

At the close of last Sunday’s 9:30 service, the band took the stage and Klayton started to sing the last song, and the congregation was still sitting, as a big group of humans tend to do unless asked otherwise.   I instinctively stood up, and felt rows of friends do so behind me… And it hit me.  The bride is being ushered in, on the arm of her loving Father, straight to the embrace of her Bridegroom.  A good friend messaged me Sunday afternoon and said, “Today was a very good day, V! I am sure He smiled!”  Me too.  Me too.

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”  Isaiah 43:19

“…as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”  Isaiah 62:5