I was just finishing up the announcements at the 8 am service last Sunday when I was interrupted by one of the little girls in our church. She handed me a yellow sheet of paper and some others told me to "read it!"
I did. And it blew me away.
The flyer was an invitation to the congregation to come and attend a pot-luck celebration of my 10th anniversary as (now) Senior Pastor of Life in Christ Lutheran Church.
I've been sick with the flu since nearly the end of December so I've been out of the loop, so to speak. The plan was hatched and announced on January 4 and for that entire week not a single person said a thing to me about this little event.
Obviously, I'm not in tune with the right "grapevine."
You know, the grapevine is where all the news about the church and its people gets distributed.
Not that there is a lot of accuracy in what is reported on the grapevine. Often the grapevine is a source for half-truths, gossip and innuendo. The 8th Commandment usually take a beating on the grapevine.
Nevertheless, I had no idea what was being planned. The news was surprising. It was humbling.
I was not sure that anyone knew that my 10 year anniversary was coming up. And I was greatly surprise that anyone would want to celebrate such a thing.
But I am a blessed pastor. Our is a loving and caring congregation. Just seeing all the support for the Darling family last Saturday at Pastor Dave's Memorial Service proved it.
And even though there are two big pro football games scheduled for Sunday, I guess a couple of hundred people are planning to come to this potluck (and why not - we've got great cooks in our congregation!).
In the mean time I'm cancelling that search for getting connected to the grapevine.
I've decided that it's much more fun to be surprised.
