Grace and Graditude

One more week of dress rehearsal. One more week to “season the skillet” in our new facility. If you were not here last week, it was an incredible Sunday - the sanctuary was full, the parking lot was full, we ran out of coffee, and were utterly confused during communion. “Seasoning the skillet,” little by little we are working out the kinks before our 'Grand Opening' on September 27th.We are incredibly blessed to have so many people interested in our church. As someone said, “...the church exists for the sake of others.” That is really true. St. Patrick exists to serve God, each other, and to minister to the world around us. One of the ways we are going to have to do this is to be willing to give up a seat for a guest. Yes that is right, maybe not this Sunday, but next Sunday we will have overflow in the Narthex for our members. You can practice this week if you see our sanctuary getting too crowded. Just step outside in the Narthex and we will have 100 chairs ready for our members and guests. Also, I am asking all of our Elders, Deacons, and ministry leaders to park in the overflow parking when you get to the church on Sunday morning. Right when you turn in the parking lot of White Rd, it is to your immediate right and is marked. It is on the grass, so if you need to drop off your family first, please feel free to do so.So how do we take all of this in? What is our posture? If you read the Bible, it is one of deep gratitude. The Christian life, more than anything else is a response of gratitude to the grace you have received in Jesus. I mean, if we really understand that our lives are only possible because someone went to the cross for us, then our primary response to life is gratitude. Do you get that?This Sunday we will talk about it. Not just being thankful when it pleases us, but how we live out of a deep sense of graditude, so that it colors all of our responses, both in good times and bad! Hope to see you Sunday and go ahead and bring you friends!Blessings,Jim