Holy Moments. What do you imagine when you think on these words? A cooing baby resting comfortably in a manger, while his mother and father, sheep, and angels adoringly look on? Or our Sunday morning service when we hear a testimony of what God is doing in our midst or when the choir processes forward after the Call to Worship. Those times when a church member greets another who is sick, with a dinner and a hug, what holy moments these are indeed. Without a doubt, God is present among us in each of these ordinary and extraordinary moments.
Some Holy moments we anticipate, but others take us off guard. They look like scenes of chaos with 26 teens filling a church kitchen eagerly anticipating getting their hands and hair full of flour in order to make several dozen cookies for our home-bound members. These moments seem at first glance to be only frazzled and hyper, energy popping in giggles and shouts like downed wires snapping their unbridled energy. Kids talking over kids and over donuts and over lessons; yearning to be heard and to share their story from school this week. Squeals of delight over dodge ball and finding new nooks in the church building in which to hide, hoping to this time to stump the seeker. Barely controlled chaos is the liturgy of the young. Baby Jesus would not easily rest in this manger of Doritos and joyous shrieks.
Yet God abides here. Amidst the laughter and shoving arises the prayer request for a friend, the fragrance sweet as any temple burnt offering. Amidst the fidgetiness and whispering during a lesson, the question trumpets forth like the Israelites before Jericho. “Does God control time?” before the quiet settles in anticipation of the answer. Holy Moments. Might we all be blessed to have the hearts to receive them, even if we lack the ability to anticipate them.
~Beth Jarvis, Youth Ministry Director