January 5, 2025 - Epiphany - God Pitches A Tent Among Us - Guest Singer: Lasana Kanneh

Energetic exhilarating epiphanies were enthusiastically embraced by everyone at today's service; a day before the church-recognized day of Epiphany. Our guest singer Lasana Kanneh from Liberia, West Africa led the congregation with Matt, Luka in drumming and lively singing of songs that were affirmations that the Creator assembly knew well. His last appearance at Creator was in 2015.

The Gathering Song was Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying. Lasana's vocal improvisations over the congregation's prayer-like performance of the music added a depth and richness to this familiar hymn.

Lasana also offered his arrangement of a piece called the Blessed Assurance Reggae during Offering. He evoked a welcome spirit for the Epiphany celebration which resonated with the rhythms of our hearts.

Pastor Emillie's sermon resonated as well as the music. She emphasized "God pitches a tent" which is a biblical phrase from this week's Gospel text, John 1:14. This means that God, in the form of Jesus, came to dwell among humanity, symbolically "pitching his tent" (or the literal translation for tent, tabernacle) on Earth, signifying his presence and closeness to people. Essentially it represents God choosing to live with, and being accessible to and in deep relationship with, humans.

She highlighted how this called to mind Genesis and the Old Testament descriptions of humankind being in God's presence. The contrast between these descriptions are beautifully stark. In the Old Testament, without the proper preparation, these encounters could be deadly. In the New Testament God appears as a human child which redefines the relationship between us and God.

And we can be grateful for the significance of that redefinition provides. We no longer need hide from God's face for fear of death. We now know that God pitches his tent among us. This makes the message the angels consistently give in the New Testament revelatory and additional Good News. We do not need to be terrified of God and the powers that initially appeared to threaten our lives when encountering the great I Am face to face

The Zulu song Siya Hamba (translated as We are Marching in the Light of God) closed Sunday's worship with a strong beat, a buoyant proclamation and a joy-filled note. This was worship which throughout the gathering showed a strong, shared faith, hope, and affirmation of church.