We have this area at Normandale Hylands UMC. We call it the “Gathering Space”. Many buildings have such named spaces, yet it takes on such richness of meaning in our church.

It is the place where people gather before the next thing, for sure. Many times people are gathering for worship. There we see faces of friends and family. Sometimes, we get surprised and filled with joy as we see someone we haven’t seen in so long. That has happened to me countless times.

As I have been surprised by my own family and longtime friends in our gathering space, I have been overjoyed to see so many other surprises. College friends gather. Cousins, sisters, brothers find a place to meet before worship. It is wonderful. In that space we ask and find out about one another. We share a caring hand, a joke, a comforting or joy-filled hug.

The gathering space is where the Cherub Choir meets before coming in to sing for baptisms. There they try and try to be so quiet. There they see the baby coming their way just before they come on into the sanctuary.

The space is for some difficult gatherings before funerals. There, families are held by our church family and held by the love and consolation of Jesus Christ. There we prepare to hear words of resurrection and hope as we also acknowledge our humanity and the difficulties.

In this special space, families and friends gather for weddings, for scouting courts of honor and so many wonderful passages of life.

It has also, so wonderfully, become a place of gathering things, objects, blessings to go out to the world. The space has gathered blankets, canned goods, regular ol’ cash, diapers, toilet paper, clothing, socks…sakes alive, I could go on. And…we do go on. We go on in the name of our blessing Savior Jesus Christ. We go on gathering ourselves and our blessings for the world. Sometimes it is all we can do to gather ourselves to be blessed as we make our way through the difficult parts of life. Sometimes we take heart in and take hold of our blessings as we gather them to glorify God in our sharing.

May you be blessed in all of the spaces you find yourself this February. May you be blessed to bring holy meaning, to reveal holy blessings in all of the places you pass through. May you be blessed to be a blessing!

Yours in Christ,

Rhodie