Mighty Hand Fellowship came into being just six short months ago. I am amazed and astonished by the work that has already taken place and the accomplishments that have been made by this group of people. God has truly been in our midst and richly blessed us with many gifts. I believe this is a good time to reflect on where we have been and where we are going. The Psalms frequently encourage us to remember all that God has done and to rejoice in the marvelous ways that God has moved among us. As we worship each Sunday in this wonderful place that God led us to we look back to our beginning and marvel at our journey.
We began as a few people who met for a small group Bible study twice a month and as a choir that longed for relationship with our God and each other. With hearts filled with worship we longed to lead others to that place of communion with God. We grew from a small group of 8-10 who met in each other's homes to a group that filled the church building. The choir grew from a few members who met to practice to a body of believers who met together for church service with the choir leading the way. We together found that we had become more than what the current church organization that we belonged to could support. We found ourselves without an organization to call our own so God led us on an Exodus to a new land. With a mighty hand God turned our seemingly impassable sea into dry land and Mighty Hand Fellowship was born.
We met first in a member's home and within a few weeks we were moving to our own building. Most of us had prayed for our own building but God gave to us over and above what we envisioned as our first building, a beautiful sanctuary, a fellowship hall, classrooms and a kitchen of our own. We watched as God met our needs one by one. We had no chairs but within a week we had chairs enough to fill the sanctuary. Our passion was praise and worship in the form of music and our sanctuary came equipped with a small stage area already wired for a sound system which a member so graciously supplied. Another member came forward with an incredible keyboard and there were drums and guitars and plenty of tambourines to go around. A board was elected and pastors were put into place and so we were on our way, running the race that God set before us.
All was not perfect in our blessed church though. We soon realized that we came with faults and imperfections. We were capable of turning on each other and hurting one another. We came with issues and things we kept hid and now the light was exposing them. We soon discovered that we all live messy lives of faith and in the midst of it all we discovered God's grace and mercy. We cried and we healed and we grew stronger. We doubted ourselves and questioned how we even arrived at the place we were in. Did we do the right thing? Did we exhaust all other avenues before we ventured out on our own? Was it a step of faith or was it arrogance?
Then one day there was our answer standing in front of us. Twenty-seven children of all sizes, colors, shapes and personalities, a rainbow of children from upper middle class to the lowest of economic classes. There they stood, smiling, clapping and singing "Deep and Wide" and "There's No God like Jehovah". From our own children to children of the surrounding community, from children raised in church to those that had never been in a church. God had met us here in the face of a child who did not know us but kept asking to sing "that Mighty Hand song".
God met us in other ways as well. Those that came in off the street seeking help through prayer. Those that were hungry and those that were addicted and needed a safe place to say I need help. We saw God in those that found us because the other churches did not want them. We saw drag Queens that came because they could be who God created them to be.
So six months into our journey and we have seen God move in mighty ways. We have church pews to fill the sanctuary, a new sound system and other church equipment. We have seen God move in the hearts of those in control of things such as rent and other finances. We have seen business donate hundreds of dollars to help us purchase things such as outdoor signs. We have seen children fill our church for a week of celebration and laughter and learning of Jesus. We have fed the hungry and clothed the homeless. We have seen our own youth perform drama's that stirred a passion for Christ deep within us.
God has truly blessed us with material things, with wonderful people and wonderful uplifting services; sermons that speak to our souls and our mind, music that makes our feet dance and moves us to tears. But mostly we have been blessed with a need for grace. A need that has brought us to our knees and then raised us again. Grace that has poured over us even as we found ourselves broken and hurting, not from a cruel world but from each other. God met us here with grace and mercy that allowed us to say to each other "I love you" not perfectly and not always in a beautiful way. Sometimes our love is sloppy and our faith is wobbly and our lives are messy but grace lives here and is poured out through God's mighty hand and covers us. May our next six months show us more of God's grace as we seek to know God more and to love each other more and to reach a world that so desperately has a need for grace.
Sherri Karnes/moderator MHF
That was beautiful. And what was most touching was that it is true. Every word of it. Not just an eloquent writing from our moderator, but a heartfelt, truthful look at where we came from to where we are. I am sure most of us have had the "did we do the right thing" thought, and in a recent conversation I used the VBS as an example as well of 'yes, we did.' Even though at times it may seem like we are headed down the wrong path, God inevitably reveals to us that we are indeed on the right path. Someone once told me that a sure sign that you are in God's will was if the path was difficult, stumbling blocks thrown in your path to prevent you from living out God's plan. So many times we look at those stumbling blocks as a sign of going down the wrong path instead of realizing its those trials and tribulations that make it abundantly apparent that we are doing exactly what God has intended for us to do.
ReplyDeleteDidn't mean for that to be anonymous.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful blog, and what truth. I felt my mind going back and remembering many times we all have had in the past year. This blog has made me feel renewed in a way. I do not have enough grace, and have not been shown much. My desire is for us all to go on, forgetting the past (except to learn from it) and make more of the future.
ReplyDeleteYou have reminded me where we have been, where we are now, and where we need to go....thank you.