Visiting friends

What a great treat this weekend is.  Two friends from Marietta are visiting relatives in Alaska (one of whom has friends in Homer) so they are in town for the weekend and staying with us. And two other friends who have had plans to vacation in Alaska and spend this weekend in Homer long before we knew we would be moving here, are in town too.  Today at church Karen and I will have about 7 visitors to introduce!  It was a lot of fun to visit and catch up.  We had a hot dot roast supper together last night.  And the two children of the group played with Karen’s doll from Russia (the one with the littler and littler dolls inside of each other, until the littlest one is really tiny).

I’ve never lived in a town that has such a concentrated tourist season.  During the (as many have said to me) “too short” summers, lots and lots of people visit Homer.  People from all over the U.S. and the world might be at church on any given Sunday (at least that is how it has been so far this summer).  It feels exciting.

But what excites me about that the most is the profound sense that on these individual Sundays we have such a unique opportunity to be the church.  I find myself reflecting on the “one-of-a-kind” quality of our services.  The gathered congregation who we will be today may never gather in exactly the same way ever again (with exactly the same people present).  That makes today unique and I find myself looking, even more than I usually might, for God’s hand moving in our midst.  Maybe something that is sung, or said, or thought, or heard, or even seen today– will be so used by God to help form us (or at least somebody) in a way that has life-long implications.  I believe that is the case whenever people gather together seeking God and for worship, but I sense it much more in this kind of setting.

I honestly believe that such a thing as life-long impacts from what happens in a given hour of worship is fully possible.  I believe it happens whether we even realize it or not.  So I’m really happy to have visiting friends.  And I’m glad when visitors find the church friendly whenever they are in town and come to this church.