Pastor's Letter for Summer 2010 (Continued)

We celebrated our first joint parish picnic!
We had set up a card table as an altar kind of in the middle of the pavilion. Well, we got everyone up and invited everyone to “mix it up”. Lots of handshaking, chatter, like an early sharing of the peace. We were smiling. As we listened to people sharing their names, we realized that we knew you all, and how fun it was to see you getting to know each other a little better. Another special moment was during the prayers, when we simply opened it all up to you and said what do you want to pray for? The prayers flowed! Many needs were lifted up. God was bringing us together. The bread was broken and the cups of wine were passed around, God was still at work, drawing us into communion with one another even as we drew closer to him. Leigh and Martin and Steve, our guitar (and banjo) players led us in “Great Things Happen When God Mixes with Us.” It could have been our picnic theme song! When Communion was over, we moved around the tables laden with food that everyone had brought. It was a feast, topped off with the hot dogs that Wayne and Bob and John had cooked. It was a great first picnic together. If only for a few moments we got to see the power of God who brings us from our separate places and makes us one family. For the two of us, it made the partner-ship come alive. Too often we think in terms of twos: what St. Paul’s brings to North Park, what North Park brings to St. Paul’s. The picnic taught us to think in threes: what God brings to the people of North Park and St. Paul’s, when he brings us together in Christ. Great things do happen when God mixes with us! We even heard the trees of the field clapping for us!