CoS

My responsibilities at the United Methodist Church have ended for the summer. I am free to attend other places of worship should I desire to do so. I am torn. Some of the choir members will be preaching this summer, and I would like to hear them.

Normally in the summer I visit around, gathering ideas for music and worship. This year, I will be attending Community of the Savior. I have decided to transfer my membership there and to seek commission for being a chaplain, should the Lord so allow.

It always feels as if I have come home when I am at CoS. I know most of the people, and am familiar with the activities happening there. The flow of the service is rich and inviting, and for a change, I am not part of the ministry team but just a worshiper seeking God's grace. How glorious to be in the congregation for a change!

The venue where they worship is a small chapel in the Nazareth College Seminary, St Bernard's. It is small - one could say intimate - yet filled with the grace of stained glass windows, crosses, candles and statues. The entrance is adjacent to a prayer garden intimately swathed in abundant flowers - roses and lilies and hydrangeas. There is much green space presided over by stately trees, creating an atmosphere of serenity and calm, a place set aside for peace and meditation.

It is a welcome oasis in a fast paced world. There is no sense of hurry. No one glances at their watch, anxious to be done on time. The service unfolds at its necessary pace, filled with time to absorb, to meditate, to reflect, to be in the presence of God. How delicious to be part of such a rejuvenating and filling repast. Communion, an every week sacrament here, is the perfect capstone to a morning so rich, so revitalizing.

Ah, it is good to be home.