At the Table

Yesterday was the final day of our family owning my mother's home here in Gibson City. After several weeks of siblings removing contents and cleaning the house sat empty for the first time in nearly 100 years. Brothers and sisters each went through the empty house at different times those last few days. On the last afternoon I walked through the empty rooms - starkly empty rooms. And all I could think as I walked from room to room was "thank you, thank you, thank you." Each room held recollections of the family, friends, events, sounds, laughter and tears that had filled the rooms. What a wonderful gift from an empty house.

The last few weeks we have been worshipping with friends at the First Presbyterian Church. During that time our sanctuary has been uncharacteristically empty. Each Sunday morning I would walk through the sanctuary before going over to the Presbyterian Church. Each time I would walk through, or sit for a moment in the quiet, my response was the same - "thank you, thank you, thank you" - gratitude to God for the wonderful sights and sounds of people gathered, lives shared, events celebrated.

It will be good to welcome everyone home tomorrow morning. It will be good to receive friends from First Presbyterian and the community.

"I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord."

Pastor Ed