Baptists, Catholics, and Episcopalians...

When is the last time that your church invited the Catholics and the Episcopalians over to share a meal? We did last Sunday night! It was really interesting to see these three distinct and diverse congregations come together in friendship and fellowship. The stated reason for our gathering was the need to raise funds for "Stepping Stones" which is a non-profit organization in our community that helps families avoid foreclosure and eviction through rent and mortgage assistance. Funds are very limited and the need is great and so we were more than willing to host the event at our church. Several local eating establishments provided soups and families from our churches brought salads, breads, and desserts potluck style. It was my idea to stretch the purpose and to actually provide a worship experience at the event. The worship began with Cornerstone's Pastor Fernando Cabellero leading us in an awesome time of worship utilyzing his three sons on bass guitar, electric guitar, and drums. Next, Father James from Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church brought a brief message emphasizing among other things the fact that our Lord Jesus had prayed for our unity in his high-priestly prayer found in John 17. We concluded with Deacon Janice Windsor of St. Alban's Episcopal Church leading us through a compline which is a liturgical service of evening prayer. You can read about it at Wikipedia here. All in all, it was a great event. To my knowledge, no essential doctrines were comromised and no harmful effects have befallen us. When we speak of each other's congregations in the future, we must now identify with names and faces, rather than just traditional bias. You can visit the website for Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church here. The website for St. Alban's Epicopal Church is here.