Yesterday marked the official kick-off of a major capitol fund drive at Holy Communion – with the rather steep goal of $600,000. It sounds like a lot of money, but that’s what it will take for us to do everything that needs to be done like repairing our roof, repainting our sanctuary, repairing our falling plaster, and renovating the two ugliest public bathrooms this side of the Mississippi. . . among other things.
There was a special program which occurred down in the Mark Hurn Room between services – a program designed to excite people about getting out their wallets. And it really worked, I think- thanks to some lively music, two cute skits (one of which was a clever takeoff on “Deal or No Deal”) and some persuasive words of wisdom. The best line of the morning came from John Salvo who said after the aforementioned skit, “Now the good news- We have all of the money that we need to do the necessary repairs and renovation of our church. The problem is, the money is still in your bank accounts.”
I was asked to compose a new hymn based on the theme of the capitol campaign- which is basically ‘Embracing our Past – Faith in our Future.” At a glance it seemed like promising fodder for a song, but in fact I had nothing but a wastebasket full of crumpled paper to show for my efforts. Then Saturday afternoon I finally got a promising idea and before I knew it I had a good refrain written and a vague idea of what the verses should be- – – but they didn’t start to really come to me until yesterday morning, halfway through first service (during the sermon- sorry, Jeff.) By the end of the service, I had the song 95% written and ready to unveil. But then the program got started about ten minutes later than was hoped and ran way too long and there was no time for my song. (Pastor Jeff was giving the closing prayer at 10:26 – and second service is at 10:30! ) So I just quietly held on to it and sang it for second service church without any fanfare- which was just fine. The words of the refrain:
What a long and wonderful journey it’s been;
We have triumphed by faith- We have stumbled in sin;
but O the incredible gifts we’ve been giv’n –
because our God is always faithful!
Back to the program- As it turns out, there was no need for a Greg Berg original . . . or maybe not even the other music performed or the two skits presented. As good as all of that stuff was, the deal-clincher came at the end of the program when a side door opened up and about 25 young Sunday School students entered, took their places on the stage, and proceeded to melt everyone’s hearts with “His Banner over me is Love.” They were precious and it helped us all realize that this whole effort is ultimately not about paint or plaster; it’s about those kids and the legacy which we will or will not manage to leave them.