Celebrate & Remember

As you are aware (at least I hope you are!), this Sunday we are meeting for a special morning worship service called Celebrate and Remember, off-site at Mallard's Croft barn in Byhalia, MS. (Go to our website, www.stpatrickpres.com, and click on the link on the front page for directions). "Why," you ask? Good question. Let me see if I can explain.Celebration is at the heart of the Christian life. If you had lived in ancient Israel and wanted to know what the Hebrews, believed you wouldn't need to study their catechism; you would just need to spend a year going to their feasts! Ancient Israel had an yearly cycle of festivals and feasts that celebrated the grace of God to them as a people. They were reminded, in a yearly rhythm of festivals, that anything they were as a people was owed to the grace of God!We have just come through our Thriving Generosity Initiative, during which we have devoted ourselves, as a people, to ponder the generosity of God. This Sunday is the culmination of this season, and we are going to do several things that we hope and imagine will mark the people of our community forever:

• We will announce the total of our commitments to the Thriving Generosity Initiative. The sacrifice this congregation has made to see a facility built that will further God's Kingdom in Collierville will be a game changer for us and for our neighbors.
• Folks from our own congregation will share stories about "how generosity has changed our lives."
• We will give everyone in attendance blank cards to write your stories about how your life is different because of generosity. We will collect these cards and display them in a way that will make them function as the ancient "stones of remembrance" Israel laid on the banks of the Jordan River, to always remind God's people of His deep grace and generosity.
• We will cap off everything with a huge feast of celebration.

There will be no Sunday School or nursery, so we will truly worship as a huge, messy family. (It won't be as long, so don't panic if you have small children!) I encourage you to bring your friends and neighbors, and if you do, please bring extra sides items so that there will be an abundance of food. Our venue has plenty of wide open spaces, and there will be games and activities for the children after the service.So come casual and with a thankful heart, ready to enter into a time of deep thanksgiving for God's abundant grace to us. Blessings,Jim