Following last night’s kick-off edition of Faith Acts, Kay Brown, our Congregational Life and Care Director, posted a photo and a summary of the evening to LPC’s Facebook page. A cropped version of the photo is in the header of this post. The full version is in the footer. Great shot, Kay!
Below the photo Kay wrote:
What an awesome kick-off to our new year of Faith Acts! We had a full Fellowship Hall for dinner, three well-attended adult electives, a bunch of youth for youth group, 3 children’s choirs rehearsing, adult choir, worship music (by Eva and John) for the youth, and a lot of children’s programs in full swing! My personal favorite for the night…12 Busy Bees!!!!!
Thanks, Kay. I can attest to the full-Fellowship Hall dinner – great food and better table fellowship – but since I was teaching one of the classes (join us next week), I was not able to look in on any of the other classes – adult or child, to hear any of the choirs, or to witness the new enthusiasm in the youth program. I didn’t see it, but I’ll second Kay’s favorite scene of the evening; the Kirsten and the Twelve Bees photo is worth a thousand words several times over.
For those not part of the LPC family, the Bible Busy Bees make up our youngest choir. They are four and five years old and a joy. Sometime this fall they will be ready to lead the whole church in praise and worship as they sing “Jesus Loves Me,” “This Little Light of Mine,” or maybe, with all the hand motions, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”
The Bible Busy Bees have been around LPC for a long time. There is a generation of college students and young adults who still remember all the hand motions to “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” from their early years of Thursday nights. Because life can grow confusing and wearisome for college students and young adults, knowing that He has the little bitty babies as well as you and me in His hands is a really good thing.
Four or five years ago, we wondered how much longer the Bible Busy Bees would last. Numbers were down and the nursery was nearly empty many Sunday mornings.
If you’ve been around LPC recently, you know that we’ve had to recruit more volunteers to staff the nursery. And, yes, sometime this fall twelve or more Bible Busy Bees will sing of their resolve to let shine this little light of mine – let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
I’ve lost track of the number of times in the past eighteen months that we have gathered in worship with faithful parents and their babies at the waters of baptism.
All of this is of God. Reflecting on the words of the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 9:23-24), Paul reminds the Corinthians on a couple of occasions that any boasting is to be in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31, 2 Corinthians 10:17). LPC, we might humbly boast in the Lord.
The presence of the Bible Busy Bees and their parents in our life together is a blessing. It is from God. Our younger new members often say that they have come to LPC looking for something for their children or the children they hope to have. Thanks to our Children’s Ministry Team and scores of faithful volunteers, we have something good to offer children, and those parents find exactly what they were looking for.
But then something else begins to happen. It happens with young parents and also with youth and singles and couples of all ages. They discover that the Bible, which tells our Busy Bees that Jesus loves them, speaks into youth and adult hearts, as well. In our weakness the Bible reminds us that He is strong.
They say that Millennials crave significance and action, that they want to find ways to be sure that their little light shines in a dark world. Through a program of mission involvement from very close-by to around the world, LPC does its best to keep our light out from under the bushel. We’re trying to figure out what it means for each of us to be a faithful evangelist, a Good News sharer, in the work place, on the campus, and in the neighborhood.
No one argues the tired tripe about this no longer being an “Ozzie and Harriet” world. Whatever it once was or was not, it is a scary world, a frightening world, a dangerous world in which we now live. The Good News that even so there is a God who holds the whole world in His hands, is worthy knowing and repeating. Indeed, even in a world like ours we can say, “It is well, it is well, with my soul.”
Last night was a good night at LPC. How did we end up with twelve Bible Busy Bees? Because God is good and in his goodness he has called us to be his church – not a building or a steeple, but a people – all who follow Jesus all around the world!
