A New Spiritual Family

As for me God came and found me
As for me He took me home
As for me He gave me a family and I'll never walk alone
In my life I'm soaked with blessing
And in heaven there's a great reward
As for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord

From God Is In The House, Darlene Zschech

Those 2 lines in bold highlight our joy and conviction after being formally welcomed as members of Hoppers Crossing Uniting Church (HXUCA) on Sun 11 Feb.

When Pastor first mentioned that there would be a special service to welcome new members and all interested in becoming members could speak to him privately, CA and I were divided in our response. I was all for it because it seemed the most natural thing to do after the way we'd been lovingly embraced by the congregation over the past few months. CA was more cautious, however, and felt we should find out more about what membership of a Uniting Church meant.

So I was really thrilled when he told me last week he'd decided that we would become members. His reasoning: so that we could be full, active members and serve in whatever ways we were needed or called. We spoke to Pastor who was clearly delighted by our decision. He said he had no fear of there being substantial doctrinal differences as he had been to Sg and had heard our Methodist pastors preach, and if there were differences, they would be worked on Sunday by Sunday. :-)

So yesterday, we joined several other brothers and sisters and stood in front of the church to affirm our commitment to HXUCA and the Uniting Church of Australia. It was to me a ritual of declaring and formalising what we already felt. We're so happy and can't wait to see how God will use us during our time here!

Mark, the worship leader, has for months been saying, "When the time is right, I'd like to hear you play [the piano]." Now that Bub is out, that time is drawing very near indeed. I'm suddenly missing our Clavinova very much!

CA has been joining the men in their monthly Working Bee, where they get together early on a Sat morning to clear the shed, repair the fence, take stuff to the dump.

There are several small groups running, and we might join one. Church playgroup's out though, as it runs on Mondays, which clashes with kinder. Perhaps the Women's Ministry or helping to edit the church newsletter (the editor just left to take retirement and travel the world!).

As I looked around me yesterday at lunch @ Pastor's house (to which all the new members had been invited), I was overwhelmed by the realization that we were in the midst of a group of people we had only recently come to know, bonded only by the blood of Christ, yet what a huge difference that bond has made for us. How wonderful is the God who gives us the grace of fellowship across boundaries of race and culture!