Tuesday, February 07, 2006

A Beautiful Day

If you've been reading me for a while, you know that I use Tuesdays to talk about family things that I'm experiencing. I'll do that today, but instead of Sheryl, Kinsey, and Connor, I'm going to talk about the last Sunday at the Granny White location of the Otter Creek Church of Christ (complete with pictures).



Brandon and the Praise Team rehearsing "If These Walls Could Speak"



Set up for the final day



Before 1st Service. Except for Zoe Sunday, we never have this many people before 8:45.



Praise Team



The final Birthday Sunday at Granny White



England Friends



The Lord Bless You and Keep You at the end of 2nd Service



I took this one at 12:30 Sunday afternoon, as I was leaving. I heard that by 4 PM the letters were down.

It was beautiful and Brandon did a great job putting together the service with an eye to our past and thinking toward the future. I won't really go into all of it, but I'll link to what other people have said.

Jennifer Thompson
Malia Carden
David Carden
Judy Thomas
Brandon Scott Thomas
Elizabeth Milom
Katey Earles
Tony Arnold
Justin Mundie

There might be more, but that's all I can find through comments and Technorati. If I find others throughout today, I'll enter them here.

Like I said, it was a beautiful and I was honored to be asked to be a part of it, even though I almost lost it in first service during the prayer. I made it through the rest of first service pretty well, and got through the prayer fine in second service, although seeing Lesley Cromer wipe her eyes made me look away from her. However, during the Amens of "The Lord Bless You and Keep You," I couldn't sing at all and really did start to cry quite a bit. It's so weird to feel so close to a structure but I associate people with that building so strongly that I almost feel like I'm leaving a piece of Buddy Arnold and John Crothers and my grandparents behind. I know that I'm not and that their DNA is tied into Otter Creek no matter where we are, but it's just a funny feeling. It'll be weird to look up front and not see the stage where I got married and the baptistry where I was baptized.

And so that chapter of my church life is closed. I thank God for it and I thank Him for the future He's bringing Otter Creek into.

3 comments:

Tony Arnold said...

I held it together pretty well during service. I teared up during the Buddy songs, especially O Lord our Lord and The Lord Bless You and Keep You. I even did fine during John Rucker's testimony.

But, when I started backing out of my parking space looking up at that building, I lost it. I broke down knowing that was the last time. Maria understood, she was so sweet.

I think I will post what I wrote for the last bulletin the week before. So when you see it go up, you can my link.

Tony

Malia said...

I hadn't even noticed that the letters where gone the past two days that's I've dropped Sweetpa off! Wow, that was quick. I'm glad you got that picture. All of the pictures were good.

It was weird being at the Franklin Road building this morning. Seeing Living Word's stuff in the Granny White building Sunday morning made it feel like the building wasn't "ours" anymore but since it will be awhile before we are really settled in in Brentwood that building doesn't seem like ours either. Kind of an in limbo feeling.

Tiffany said...

It's not at all unusual to feel a connection to a place. The Old Testament is full of stories of places consecrated by the acts of God's people. The Granny White building was consecrated by everything that happened there the years we were there. My "index card" prayer for next week is that we will do the same for our new home.

By the way, I bawled all morning, and had a really, really hard time making myself walk out the door.

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