Happy Sunday!
Keeping the streak alive, we had another sunny Sunday here
in Maine. At this point, I’m not sure if we’ll know what to do if it rains
during one of our services this summer. Probably panic I’d guess.
The Blackwoods service was intimate. Miles and his
dogs made it again along with three out of the five members of a family. The
night before while campground walking we reached their campsite right as they
were doing the initial unloading of the minivan. They were very excited to talk
to us and very excited about coming to a service. Because my audience consisted
of only Christians, I changed my message/sermon/talk slightly. The main point
was still the same, however: God doesn’t want us to associate heaven with a certain
place, feeling, or experience. God wants us to associated heaven with being one
with Jesus Christ.
After the service, the father of the family, Michael, and I
had a really nice talk. I’ve concluded that the services are not so much about
us as the ACMNP team ministering to and teaching others as the services are about us
providing the opportunity, time, and space for the Holy Spirit to minister to
each of us through fellowship with one another.
No one made it to the Seawall service, so we checked out the
tide pools instead.
During our goofing off time, Ally saw a pretty dog, so we
went over to meet it. While there, we also met the lady the dog was walking. A
few minutes into our conversation her husband joined in. Turns out they are
both Christians and own the Seawall Motel just down the road. After they found
out we were with ACMNP, the husband, Dave, offered us a job right on the spot
for next summer. Not sure if any of us will take him up on that, however. They
agreed to hang up an ACMNP worship service poster so their guests could learn about the Seawall service.
After our adventure in the tide pools we checked out the
place next to the motel that had a “Popovers” sign in front of it. Luke and
Sabrina had never tried a popover before. Ally and I wanted to compare Jordan
Pond popovers with other kinds. We discovered the establishment is called “The
Common Good.” In the summer they serve oatmeal and popovers every morning and
ask for a free-will donation. In the off-season, they use the money they raise
in the summer to fund community and food assistance programs. After enjoying a
couple of popovers with cinnamon and also maple-walnut butter, we volunteered
to help close up shop. They were very appreciative and we were very excited to
have discovered our new brunch spot for after the morning services. They also
agreed to hang up an ACMNP worship service poster.
We then drove around the “Quite Side” of Mount Desert Island
to find other places to hang up our posters. The general store/pay shower spot
near the campground agreed to. The ferry terminal for the Cranberry Isles
agreed to. And the boat tour company in Bass Harbor agreed to. I’m expecting a
big crowd next week at Seawall.
On the drive back to Bar Harbor I may or may not have taken
a nap. It depends on who you ask. If you ask me, I’d tell you no. I was just
resting my eyes. If you ask Ally, Sabrina, or Luke, they’d tell you I was out
cold. I guess with such a discrepancy in stories we’ll never know for sure
whether or not I am a car-napper.
For most of the afternoon we hung out at Sabrina’s
apartment. Luke had to do laundry and Ally and I made phone calls. Sabrina led
us in this week’s team devotional. She decided to have us listen to the first
half of the book of Mark from the Bible. Hearing, and not just reading, the story of Jesus’s ministry
was enlightening. I’ve read Mark several times through but never in one
sitting. When hearing the life, words, teachings, and ministry of Jesus from
beginning to end, it makes him seem less like a character or historical figure but more like a
person that we have to respond to.
To save money, we headed over to the grocery store to buy
food for dinner. We settled on turkey burgers with fixins’, pretzel buns, mac
‘n cheese, baked beans, and canned corn. Our bill for all that food was $15.
There’s no way any of us could have bought a dinner at a Bar Harbor restaurant
and walked out paying less than that after the bill, tax, and tips. Plus, the
four of us make a great cooking team.
The Cadillac Mountain service was also an intimate affair.
We had a family of four and two young ladies. One of the ladies served on
the Acadia ACMNP team two years ago. The other was her college friend. The
family was on a summer trip. The dad was really into singing and insisted at
the end of the service that we keep on singing. We ended up doing three extra
songs. The final one was “Lord I Lift Your Name on High” complete with the
motions which the daughter, a summer camp counselor, led us in.
Back at the dorm and during our team meeting we were all
exhausted. Everyone wanted to get done as soon as possible and head to bed.
However, that’s not how things went down. Instead, one of the gals from the
dorm came into the meeting to tell us about a phone call she had just had and
vent about how disappointed and hurt she was by it. I won’t go into details of
course, but I will say that her response was appropriate given what had
happened, and we were all happy to change the course of our meeting to listen
and respond to her.
After we had returned to and finished planning next week’s
services, we went around for junk, joys,
and Jesus when we discuss something lousy about the week, something
positive, and something we felt God had taught us or shown us. Things started
getting awfully deep and personal. Eventually we had to cut off the
conversation because everyone was so tired, but it was one of the key moments
in our group’s development in which we started breaking down walls.
The picture of the day is a shot of Bass Harbor. It’s a real
working-man’s harbor. No yachts here. Enjoy!
