MattGlover.com

I went to three worship services on the weekend, and in everyone there was wild clapping and cheering.

The first service was a wedding. The bride looked beautiful in her dress, and the groom looked great in his too! (He wore a kilt). It was an outside wedding, held at Kellybrook Winery in the Yarra Valley. The weather the night before had been terrible and the morning looked bleak. In the minutes before the service was to start, the rain was falling steadily.

But as the bride walked up the path, the rain stopped. And as the couple said their vows to each other, the sun shone brightly. Nice.

When they kissed, the guest cheered and screamed and celebrated the love between a new husband and wife. Then the party began!

The second service was the annual ordination service for my denomination. Nine people had come to the end of their study and formation journey, and were now presented to the assembly of representatives from all the Victoria churches, as pastors called to serve the body of Christ.

I was gald I could be there. I knew all nine and was friends with a few. One of the girls was in the youth ministry of my previous church - it was amazing to see her up there! As they were presented, there were screams and cheers and another party began!

The third service was a baptism. James took a step of faith in front of a ‘full house’ and shared his story of discovering a God who cared about what happened to him. As James came up out of the water, there was even more clapping and cheering. And yes, another party afterwards.

I like it when church is like this. Celebrating love, life and faith. The message I shared at the baptism was based on the story of Jesus calming the wild storm on the Sea of Galillee. The story is not meant to say that life will be all calm sailing with ‘Jesus in your boat’ but instead a recognition of Jesus as the Son of God.

In Jewish thought, God was so powerful that you couldn’t exist in his presence without suffering instant death. Not because God was so mean but because God was just so powerful. God was also the only one that could control the weather - so for the disciples to be in a boat with God meant that a whole new era in human history had been ushered in.

This is something worth celebrating, because it means that life as it was meant to be - in relationship and community with God and God’s people - is once again a possibility.

Makes you wonder why we don’t have clapping and cheering a bit more often in church really.