We’re blending families at church.  Two congregations that have collectively spent three hundred people and ministry years are coming together to become something new.  The process has been amazing grace.

We talk about being the One Body of Christ all of the time in the church.  It’s one of those phrases that get tossed off as an “of course”.  Of course we are one.  BUT, we like the way we do things and we like the way we know each other and we like the way our sanctuary looks and we like the treats we serve at coffee and changing these things that give us a sense of ground in a shifting day and age seems too much to risk.

But risk we will.  Edgewater Emmauel will hold its last service of worship in its sanctuary on September 13th of this year.  Richfield UMC will hold its last service of worship in its sanctuary on September 13th of this year.  And then, on the 20th of September, we will join together as a new Body: Richfield UMC, composed of folk from EEUMC and RUMC and anywhere else God sees fit to garner partners in ministry.  Some of us will be in a sanctuary that may look and feel familiar, but we have to know this:  we are a new creation.  We’ll learn from each other and we will change and grow and explore and blunder and wonder about how it is that we have been so blessed.

We’re blessed by a Spirit that leads us into new celebrations and expressions of what it is to be community in Christ.  Blending families (this I know) is a work that is challenging.  But done mindfully and prayerfully and with a willingness to just plain laugh at the foibles of being human, it is Spirit work of immense power.

We gather at the common table of grace. We trust that God is in our midst.  We are blessed.