A Beautiful Thing

If you have been checking out my church's web site, you are aware that we recently launched a new church at Shawneespring Health Care Facility.

I was out of town when the first worship service was held so I made a point to be there for the second one. I went out of a sense of duty and ended up having a marvelous experience. Such has often been my experience in doing ministry. In doing what I felt was my obligation, my path has intersected with God and I have had the joy of seeing God at work in the lives of people – always an awesome thing to see.

I went expecting to see the usual, run-of-the-mill nursing home kind of worship service: A canned rerun of the morning worship service of a local church; dull and boring with little participation from the residents and not a whole lot more energy from the folks putting it on. Wrong! First of all, the place was packed. They were crowded in there butt to butt and wheel to wheel. When anyone had to walk through the crowd for any reason, there was massive rearranging of wheelchairs.

It was great to see that the residents were not just attending but were fully involved. One opened with prayer and another prayed during the worship service. Two of the residents read Scripture and one resident helped serve communion. A whole bunch of well loved old hymns were sung and the singing was full, loud and wonderful. Almost everyone in attendance really got into the worship service. It wasn't something being done for them; it was something they were doing. They were worshipping and it was great.

Pastor Nielsen delivered an awesome sermon. It was Biblical, meaningful and short and to the point. Out of the telling of a Biblical story he encouraged the congregation to do something about what they had heard. I am sure that is a rare thing for most of them. Being in a nursing facility most people think of them as people who must be done for and cared for. Larry instead suggested that their lives are still viable and valuable and there are things they can do to impact the lives of others. It was a holy moment.

The congregants left worship alert, alive, heads up and ready to make a difference for God in their community. It was an amazing thing to see. It was church done right. I'm going back.

Copyright © 2008, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved