singing in the rain

Immanuel Fellowship does not own a building. I've always appreciated this. It makes it easier to grasp the fact that church is not a building or a meeting on Sunday morning, it is people following Jesus together.

This is sometimes inconvenient, like when we have to set up for Sunday's meeting on Saturday night. Mostly though I like it. I like the feeling that people in the church are the church 24/7. I think this buildinglessness (I always feel childishly proud of myself when I invent a new word) also helps create the sense of community we have. I feel like I don't have to wait till Sunday to see someone.

We rent our Sunday space from the Senior Center and meet in homes during the week. This Sunday was their annual rummage sale and consequentially it's our annual Sunday in the park. This is one of the Sundays I really look forward to. I always like it when we meet outside, weather it's during the rummage sale or one of our camping trips. I guess it somehow makes me feel more connected to the early church fathers and the persecuted church. I know they didn't/don't always their gatherings outside. I suppose for me these outside Sundays remind me of the church's placelessness on earth. How the church cannot be confined and limited to a building or a time or a country. It's a clearer glimpse of what we really are.

Usually we are blessed with a perfect sunny day during the rummage sale. This year we got a different blessing. We got cold mountain rain. Fortunately we are all hearty mountain people so we were prepared with the appropriate clothing. I was especially glad for the rain. I am a recent addition to the worship team and this week all the other female vocalists were either gone, or too pregnant to sing. Being the only girl up there is the next best thing to singing a solo so I was fairly nervous. Logistical problems during the worship time make feel like I can relax and worship because no one is thinking about me, they are ether distracted or trying harder to focus on God. This may be a bad attitude. I don't know. As you can see the worship team had to stand close to the edge of the gazebo and we got a little wet. It was fun, I like Colorado weather.