My family and I had such a great time at last night’s Pancake Supper and Thanksgiving service here at Legacy. There were less than 150 of us here. But everybody came early for the dinner, had a lot of time to just sit around and visit, we had tons of kids all running around the concourse area, it was loud and light and fun, and then we all moved in to the worship center together for a wonderful time of worship to our heavenly Father who makes all of it possible.
All the young families with kids were down front, singing with high energy and gusto. Inspiring. Most of the church doesn’t get to worship with the children, we don’t see them very much, because they’re generally in the back. It was fantastic. The readings from Scripture calling us to be thankful and to live our lives in gratitude for the gifts from our God were, as Jim pointed out, so simple and so clear and so beautiful. The prayers were worded in such a way that we felt taken straight to the throne of our Father. And when we were finished, it still took almost an hour to clear the building out.
Why did last night feel different? Last night just really felt like a family. What was it? Did everybody else feel that way, or is it just me? I loved it. I’d like to capture the dynamic from last night and figure out some way to duplicate it at every Sunday assembly. Is it a small group thing? I don’t think so. I think last night would have felt the same if we’d had 500 there. What was it? Was it that everyone was so relaxed? Was it because I wasn’t preaching? (Don’t answer that.)
I’d love to get your thoughts on this. How can we work, what can we do, to foster that same kind of atmosphere every time we get together?
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**Legacy Construction Update**
At 1:00 yesterday afternoon they began pouring the slab in the new Worship Center. Click on the pictures to enlarge.
Notice in the lower right hand corner where Jackie, Bonny, and Suzanne couldn’t help themselves and actually stuck their hands in the cement. That’s the bathroom area of the building. Hopefully there will actually be a wall there, definitely some tile or linoleum, to cover it up. Crazy gals. It’s the one think Kent wasn’t paying attention to out there. I threatened to take away his hard hat.
They were working under huge floodlights when we left at about 8:30 last night. This is what it looks like this morning. They’ve poured from the back foyer area into the actual auditorium up to the point where the slope begins toward the front. They’re scheduled to finish the entire slab by next Tuesday.
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Tonia Beard sent me these Thanksgiving cartoons this morning. Enjoy.
Peace,
Allan
Happy Thanksgiving to you. We’ll miss you.
About the feeling that you had last night. We get that same feeling here at Chandler Street in Kilgore when we have the special devotionals. Ours is tonight and I always look forward to them. Maybe the feeling comes because everyone who is there is really wanting to be there. During the holidays, so many of us find so many excuses to be somewhere else and it seems that the ones who feel really connected will find a way to be there.
And the real connection is what family is all about. ( I don’t want to get in trouble with those who can’t attend because of being out of town or whatever) I’m talking about planning your time so that you can spend a bit of time with God and his family whenever possible, even when you have family coming and those pies need to be in the oven.
love, mom