Homecoming 2011

Normally I would have posted my Project 365 today....but today was Homecoming at Rock Mills UMC, the church was bursting at the seams, and I had to share all about it.  We had 119 people in attendance and it was so awesome to hear all those voices raised and singing praises to God!  What a rush it was!  Our service started with the choir singing Halle Halle Halle Luah...and I love this song it is so much fun to sing.  When I sing it I want to laugh!  Then Beth played a beautiful piano prelude.  I love to hear her tinkle those ivories.  Our church piano is an old one...and needs replacing....(we have a piano fund started)....and even with it's age, and sticky keys...Beth makes it sound like a Steinway.  Time for Children was done by Frank and he used the Homecoming story of the Prodigal Son.  The kids seemed very responsive today and I loved it!  We have some of the absolutely cutest kids in our church.  Once the Pastoral prayer had been given the music portion of our service kicked off.  One of our youth, Libby Towler sang a Francesca Battistelli song, Angel By Your Side and it was so lovely.  The two of us discovered this song when we went to Gatlinburg back in December and it finally came out on sheet music so she sang and Beth played for her.  Then it was my turn to sing a special.  My friend Deborah gave me a CD on my birthday called, "God Saw A Cross."  It was a song done by the Kingsmen quartet and the first time I listened to it I knew it was going to be my Homecoming song....it was and it was powerful!  Deborah would have been proud.  I wish she could have heard me sing it.  When I finished our special singers, Cedar Creek Quartet sang and they were so good.  They have a bass singer that is awesome!...heck...they were all awesome.  Bobby, one of the singers, goes to our church and his last song was called Show Me the Cross....and it was so moving that I sat there and cried.  He told me later that it was an old Gold City Quartet song.  Rev. Stoney Halsey was our guest preacher.  He used to be a member of Rock Mills UMC and as a matter of fact accepted the call to preach during a service there.  He has a church down the road.  His text was:  Revelation 21:23-25 (New International Version, ©2011).  "23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there."  He talked about the big Homecoming we will all have one day with our loved ones in heaven.  His sermon was very moving.  He ended it by telling us....if he got there before we do...he would be waiting for us.  Then he asked us if we got there first to wait on him.  We had a dismissal prayer, took up a special offering for the American Red Cross and the victims of the April 27th tornadoes.  Everyone then adjourned to the Fellowship Hall where a great table was set and we feasted.  After lunch Frank and I went home and crashed.  We both took pastoral naps this afternoon....and it was good being lazy after yesterday's non-stop day.  I hope you all had a wonderful day today as well!  Bad weather is moving in again tomorrow...but they say there are no more tornadoes in this one.