I attend the very large church of Vineyard Columbus. I have been attending this very large church for almost 2 decades. For the better part of the past 2 decades I have been sitting in the balcony of the church, far enough back to where the pastor looks clearer on the giant projector screens behind him then he does in does in person.
This past Sunday my husband and I had our children dedicated at church. This is where you go up on stage and the church prays for you as parents and you make a commitment of sorts to raise your children in a God centered home.
They each received a Bible as a gift from the church. My younger one has played with it a few times, but my 7 year old really cherishes it. He carried it around all day yesterday and anytime anyone mentioned something about them getting dedicated he ran over and got it and just kind of held it near him. As a mother, watching your children grow into kind sensitive God loving people just really melts your heart in a way nothing else does.
But because we were having the kids dedicated they asked us to sit in a certain section of the church so we could just walk up onto stage easily, so we ended up sitting in the front row of this section at the front of the church.
Church is different in the front row, especially when you attend a church that has an auditorium the size of a small arena. For one, I could see the pastors face. But you tend to take notice of all the other little things that you don't normally notice when you sit in the back.
Not just the pastor of the church, but the people of the church.
Every week at the closing of the sermon, the pastor Rich Nathan, invites people up for prayer. From the back of the church, this just looks like a bunch of random silhouettes walking up to the stage, and by the time the floor is full, you couldn't distinguish one body from another.
But from the front of the stage, something very beautiful showed through during this time. You could see the people that were going up for prayer. You could see the people that were being prayed for, and they were beautiful. These people, vulnerable in front of God, in front of a stranger, in front of their church, were God's people. It was these people up at the front, maybe feeling lost and hopeless and unworthy, that were the most worthy of God's love.
As I was standing there, holding my baby, I just looked out at the site before my eyes and was amazed.
I watched a middle-age Mexican women and her small son walk out to the floor and wait for someone. I saw a darker skinned younger couple with their baby in their arms walk out and wait. I was men in business suits, and college kids with tattoos and elderly women. If I had seen a picture of the these people on this floor below this stage, I would have never been able to tell what city or what state I was in.
And then something even MORE beautiful happened. People quickly began praying for these men and women standing there. And not just the elders of the church, the best of the best, the anointed by God. Anyone! A young white women came up and prayed for the Mexican women and her child. There was an older gentleman praying for the younger couple with the baby. As we were sitting there a younger middle-eastern looking guy suddenly popped to his feet from behind us and half jogged to an older black man that he noticed had been standing alone waiting for prayer. It was about as mixed and matched as it got in this time of prayer. No body showed credentials before praying. No body said your too young or too old or too poor or too rich. Your not the right nationality or you couldn't ever understand what I am going through. They simply said, "Hi. Can I pray for you."
As I stood there rudely staring at people as I sang that last song of worship, I noticed a middle aged dark skinned women in a very bright patterned blouse and full skirt. You would see it as more traditional wear at a Sunday service in another country, but never in Columbus, Ohio. Her dress was beautiful and her heels were sparkling and her short hair was done nicely. She stood for a prayer and white woman, similar in age walked up to her to pray for her. This woman was wearing a poofy floor length beige coat that you could see her hoodie sweatershirt, sweat pants and plain tennis shoes popping out from underneath. There was no make up on her face and her straight shoulder length hair was untouched. These women were about as different as could be. Different lives, different backgrounds, the oddest pair you would ever think to see together from style and dress to nationality. But here they were, together at this church on this day, in the most intimate moment of prayer with one another. Would any of these things matter out of the streets or in a store. Would these women judge each other for the differences? We'll never know, but in front God and their church, they were brought together, and they loved each other and prayed together and found no differences in themselves in the eyes of the Lord.
God is doing unbelievable things in the Vineyard Columbus. Beautiful things.
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