Blest Be the Tie That Binds

HRPC Work Day 2105

Jessie and Nick Leonard, HRPC, with Melvin Meares and Dave Rowe, First Presbyterian, Hickory, NC

Blest be the tie that binds….You never know how God will work in and through your relationships to connect you with one another….

Once upon a time, Jessie and Nick Leonard came from Hickory, NC to Baltimore to study and work.  Then Rev. Deborah McEachran was called from Hickory, NC to serve the Hunting Ridge Presbyterian Church.  So Jessie and Nick joined Hunting Ridge.  Very quickly, Jessie and Nick began to share their gifts with HRPC in multiple ways, including improving the condition of our building and grounds.  This week, a team of 13 adults come from Hickory, NC to Hunting Ridge to lend 26 hands on various projects inside and out.  Add to that 44 more hands from Hunting Ridge to help with painting, landscaping, feeding and cleaning.  Add to that 16 more hands of local workers who worked alongside Presbyterians from Hickory and Baltimore, thanks to a gift from FPC, Hickory.  The building is being transformed into a more welcoming place for our entire community.  Now you can see more of our building from the street!  The fellowship hall is no longer dingy and dirty. Flowers and mulch bring color and beauty.  Our church office has had a face lift.  Corroding stained glass windows are being tended to.   We give thanks to God for the ties across states, between congregations, among brothers and sisters in Christ.  Truly we have been gifted by others in many ways.  In gratitude, we can gift others.  Blest be the tie that binds….

Table Fellowship = Community

grapes bread

The bonding around tables is hard to find sitting in pews. Last night, 56 people gathered in six different homes to share a simple meal, to pray, to sing (and some even danced!) and to hear again the Bible story.   We learned more about each other.  We learned what others are celebrating and what others are concerned about.  We shared our belief in Jesus who lives among us.  This is what identifies us as a community of believers in Christ.

Agape is the Greek word for unconditional love (not brotherly love or sexual love).  It is the love God has for us, and the love Jesus calls us to have for one another, not just on Maundy Thursday, but on any Thursday or Saturday or Tuesday.

As we remember the death of our Lord on this gray, rainy day, we recognize the ways we have felt abandoned in our lives, either by other people or by God.  (Check out Psalm 22 today. Jesus quotes the first line as he was dying.)  And in the midst of it all, the agape of God stands firm.  May you be encouraged in the real life demonstration of that agape in our shared community as the body of Christ.