Sunday Celebration

I have been working with the pastor of Community of the Savior to officially become a member there. I have to admit that although I have attended many many churches in the past, both because we moved often and because I work at places where my family generally doesn't attend, I rarely have felt a strong connection to any particular place of worship.

I have worked in many denominations, and am comfortable in a variety of liturgies and formats both formal and informal. I have become members of churches here and there for one reason or another, but rarely because I felt that this church was where *I* belonged. But from the very first time I attended a service at CoS I felt I had finally come home. I fit. I could truly worship and fellowship. I wasn't just fitting into someone else's way of connecting with God. This was how I would do it on my own with no one else to consider.

What a dilemma! To work in one church and feel at ease and welcomed there, part of a community, yet to know that ultimately, you belong elsewhere. I love the church where I work, love the people. The services are perfectly fine. Yet my spirit aligns with CoS in ways I can hardly understand let alone explain. I wrestled with this for some time. In the summer I attend at CoS. I know that where I work, I am ministering. At CoS I am feed. Perhaps that is the difference. You can't continually give out without taking in, and that usually happens for me in different settings.

After much conversation and prayer I decided I would officially become a member at CoS, but that will not affect my loyalties to the church where I serve. So today I stand in front of the congregation and join. I am welcomed as a member with the understanding that my attendance will not be regular. After service we gather in the fellowship hall and a congregational meeting is held. My heart is full. I am among friends and fellow laborers in a place where I can kneel before God as my spirit longs to do. Yes, it is alright.