Our family attended a celebratory service last Sunday at Umhlali Methodist to mark the centenary of their church building (Kym and I served the Umhlali community for ten years before moving here). It was lovely reconnecting with people and a reminder of how important it is to make the effort to mark and celebrate key days like this. Rev Mark Wiemers (who many of you will know from his time here) invited us and several other past ministers to be a part of the service.
One of the past ministers, who is now retired, spoke about holding their first beach sunrise service during his time there (that service is now a well-established local tradition). He said it was pitch dark on Easter morning and he expected only a few people to turn up, so he'd brought minimal communion supplies. However, people kept arriving and they had to work hard to make the grape juice and bread feed the multitude (the juice was watered down and tiny portions of bread were distributed ...)
The story was told with humour, but then he left us with a challenge. He said that it weighed heavily on him that while we were together in a worship service on a Sunday morning, much of the rest of the world was completely disinterested - they were on the beach, exercising, or shopping. He wondered to himself whether that was because the Church was offering them watered down grape juice and a tiny crumb of bread. It's a powerful metaphor, isn't it? What would it mean for Westville Methodist to lay on a gospel feast for the world around us?
One of the past ministers, who is now retired, spoke about holding their first beach sunrise service during his time there (that service is now a well-established local tradition). He said it was pitch dark on Easter morning and he expected only a few people to turn up, so he'd brought minimal communion supplies. However, people kept arriving and they had to work hard to make the grape juice and bread feed the multitude (the juice was watered down and tiny portions of bread were distributed ...)
The story was told with humour, but then he left us with a challenge. He said that it weighed heavily on him that while we were together in a worship service on a Sunday morning, much of the rest of the world was completely disinterested - they were on the beach, exercising, or shopping. He wondered to himself whether that was because the Church was offering them watered down grape juice and a tiny crumb of bread. It's a powerful metaphor, isn't it? What would it mean for Westville Methodist to lay on a gospel feast for the world around us?