blogger mom

Last night Eric, Jen and I took the boys to His Place at the Episcopal church down the street where we have been going on Sunday mornings since we moved to Franklinton. His Place is the name of the Wednesday night service there that is followed by a free meal for the neighborhood. The sanctuary was alive with the voices of children from the neighborhood, many of them there by themselves. There were no instruments, just the sound of voices singing loudly songs like "I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart" and "Thy Word." The priest gave a short Bible lesson about how nothing can ever separate us from the love of God and then we listened as people asked for prayer for their friends and family. It struck me how many children asked us to pray for their moms and dads. There were about 30 people in the service and probably at least 80 at the meal. No strings were attached to the meal, beautiful. The meal was loud and smelly, the room packed tight with the poorest in the neighborhood. I felt more alive than I've felt in a long time.

There was a point in the service where I felt like my emotions were going to flood out of me and I was trying so hard to keep it under control. I was sitting with Riley, Trey and Evan watching them clap and laugh. They were trying to sing and do the motions with our priest, her husband, a group of children, and an older woman who was quite child-like singing "Pharoh, Pharoh" from the front of the sanctuary. There was so much energy, so much life, so much joy. And although I was singing "Pharoh, Pharoh" with them, in my mind these words were being sung at the same time:

You are awesome in this place Mighty God
You are awesome in this place Abba Father
You are worthy of all praise, to you our lives we raise
You are awesome in this place Mighty God.

The darkness here is heavy. But, that makes the places where light shines even more beautiful. At breakfast this morning Trey asked if we could sing "This Little Light of Mine" together. Maybe we should sing that every morning before we leave this house. My prayer is that each of us who have moved to Franklinton, grown-ups and children, will find our own little space and be light there.