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blessed to be a witness

blessed to be a witness.  it's not only a good ben harper song, it's also been my mantra recently.  the more i experience of life's tugs and pushes, momentary graces and momentous pleasures, i am more aware of just how blessed i am to see what i see, to feel what i feel, and to inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.  each moment, even the ones marked by angst and anxiety, seem somehow full of bulging grace, and aching, abundant life.  mundane or not, life is miraculous, and i am blessed to be a witness to it. 

i felt this so poignantly yesterday.  it was my great privilege to preside over a beautiful baptism in our worship service yesterday at catawissa avenue umc in sunbury, pa, and then then to confirm 7 young people in the christian faith. 



it was an awesome experience.  to be able to hold that little evelyn in my arms, so young and precious....to be able to bear witness to an incredible step in the faith journey of those young people as they remembered their own baptisms and claimed that faith for themselves.  it was a moment pregnant with great joy and wild possibility. 

what lies ahead for them?  what new chapters wait to be told?  who knows?  but i know this: i am blessed to be a witness.  for however long i am planted in this soil, i know that i will be blessed to watch them grow and say 'yes' to life and love and hope.  it's an adventure and one i am blessed to witness. 

part of the worship celebration included a video in which the young people shared with the congregation their interpretation of the lord's prayer, and a reminder that saying 'amen' is a way to say yes.  we focused on the need to say yes to life; to hear the great "yes" that God is constantly speaking to us; to remember that Jesus Christ is always a "yes," and to work hard at saying "yes" to God.  that video is below.  enjoy. 

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