May 24, 2026 Acts 2:1-13 Lost in the Spirit of Pentecost

Reflection

Service

Sermon

What also struck me today was how naturally Pastor Emillie embodies the spirit of Pentecost itself. Pentecost is often remembered for the miracle of many languages being understood at once, but beneath that miracle is something deeper: the breaking down of fear and separation so people can recognize themselves in one another. 

There was something quietly beautiful about our congregation stumbling together through Spanish, Swahili, and Swedish. None of us sang perfectly, but perfection was beside the point. The act of trying mattered. It became a small expression of hospitality, humility, and shared joy.

And in many ways, that seems characteristic of Pastor Emillie’s ministry. She chose music the congregation had sung before in Spanish, Swahili, and even Swedish. Debi, Suzi, Craig, and I helped lead the singing, with Debi prompting us in Spanish and Pastor Emillie in Swahili. 

Emillie creates spaces where people do not feel tested or excluded, but welcomed into participation. Her opening story about not knowing to wear red on Pentecost may have seemed small, but moments like that carry pastoral wisdom. She instinctively senses the anxieties people carry into church, whether they are visitors, newcomers, or longtime members who feel out of step  , and she gently dissolves those anxieties with humor and warmth. Her laughter does not draw attention to herself; it invites others to relax and belong.

What continues to deepen week by week is the sense that her relationship with scripture is not academic alone, nor performative, but deeply lived. She speaks about the Bible with both reverence and accessibility, as though she genuinely trusts that these ancient stories still breathe and move among us. That trust becomes contagious. In her Wednesday Bible discussions, especially, people are not simply being taught information; they are being invited into a relationship with the text, with one another, and perhaps even with parts of themselves they had forgotten.

Different pastors meet us at different moments in our spiritual lives. That feels profoundly true. A healthy church community is not built on one personality or one style of leadership, but on a tapestry of gifts. Pastor Dayle offered intellectual expansiveness and theological reassurance. Pastor Ray inspired discipline, curiosity, and deeper immersion in scripture itself. Pastor Emillie seems to minister through presence as much as preaching through kindness and attentiveness, with an ability to make faith feel joyous and inhabitable rather than intimidating.

There is something healing about encountering a pastor whose love for scripture is matched by an equally visible love for the people sitting in front of her. Too often those qualities become separated. But when they come together, as they seem to in Pastor Emillie, the church begins to feel less like an institution and more like a genuine community gathered in grace.

April 5, 2026 Easter: From Grave to A Garden

Over the years, we have listened carefully to the resurrection stories at Easter; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each begins at the tomb. Each begins in grief. Each begins with women who refuse to let love end.

There is one consistent detail that is mentioned in each narrative. Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us it was dawn. Light was already breaking.

John tells it differently. Mary Magdalene came to the tomb while it was still dark.

This is not a small detail. In John’s gospel, nothing is accidental. This is the same gospel that begins: “In the beginning was the Word…” Echoing the first words of Genesis: “In the beginning… when the earth was formless and void and darkness covered the deep.”

Pastor Emillie's sermon emphasized that Mary comes in the darkness, and John here is telling us something more than the time of day. He is telling us where Mary was and where we are in times of grief. We are standing at the edge of creation when the world is unmade, when we grieve, and the cross seems to have shattered hope. When she discovers the tomb is empty, nothing makes sense.

In past years, the Easter sanctuary transformation happened at the Easter Vigil service. Now it occurs just before the Easter service starts. The bustling busyness of what is done is an exciting part of our Easter tradition now.   

This year, the Thanksgiving for Baptism emphasized John's recurring theme of creation and God's Spirit moving over the water. God has placed us in a well-watered garden. We sang Take Me to the Water in response to the Thanksgiving.

Pastor Emillie preached about what Mary would have felt in her time of grief by comparing it to what Emillie's family felt when her uncle died. Mary stands weeping outside the tomb. The mystery of the empty tomb was too much at first. She then encounters a man she does not recognize. Of course, a gardener, because John is telling us something again about the first creation in a garden. 

Once there was Adam and Eve, and through them the world fell into fracture. Now there is Mary and Jesus. A woman and a man in a garden again, but this time, the story is not about grasping or loss. It is about recognition. “Mary.”

And in that moment, everything changes. Light breaks. Not just in the sky,
but in the soul. “Rabbouni.” 

Teacher. The Lord of Life. This is the first morning of the new creation. The darkness has not been avoided. It has been entered and transformed. The resurrection is not only about one man rising. It is the rebirth of the whole cosmos. The chaos of Genesis is spoken into order again. The void is filled with life again. The garden blooms again. Pastor Emille preached that Jesus commanded Mary not to grasp this moment, but rather to go and spread the news. The first witness is Mary, who is so excited she must run to announce what all creation longs to say: “I have seen the Lord.”

The congregation responded with the hymn Sing Out, Earth and Skies and the Apostles’ Creed

For Offertory the choir sang Now the Green Blade Riseth, and this familiar hymn landed  deeply in continuing resurrection as creation, "life from buried seed."

After We Eat the Bread of Teaching and Taste and See for Communion we departed with a rousing, full-throated I'm So Glad Jesus Lifted Me. we left as witnesses of the garden restored and where death no longer has the final word.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Service  

Creator's Worship and Music 2025

Teach us to count our days, that we may gain a wise heart.”  Psalm 90:12 

We tend to name years once they are over, calling them good, bad, hard, joyful, busy, transformational, or whatever, at the end, when we can assess the previous twelve months and judge them according to some scale of success or failure, achievement or challenge.

It is an odd practice  Is it valuable to generally label 2025 like this for Creator?

Throughout 2025, Creator’s worship and music life reflected the collective heart and shared history of the congregation, while growing and transforming into something new. Worship remained deeply rooted in tradition while intentionally opening space for fresh perspectives, new voices, and faithful experimentation. 

A significant shift in the congregation's life occurred through Pastor Emillie’s leadership in worship and preaching. In July, she guided Creator from the Revised Common Lectionary to the Narrative Lectionary, beginning with the book of Jeremiah. This move invited the congregation into a more expansive and story-driven engagement with scripture. Over the summer, Pastor Emillie also introduced a timely sermon series on “Holy Disruptors,” which Creator joined with other congregations in exploring. The series encouraged thoughtful reflection on faithful resistance, prophetic courage, and God’s ongoing work of renewal.

At the same time, Pastor Emillie led Creator’s Wednesday Bible discussions. These gatherings offered a welcoming space to examine the wisdom of scripture in conversation with daily life, enriched by the many perspectives and lived experiences of participants. From September through December, Pastor shared her deep love for Old Testament stories, guiding the group through rich and often challenging texts. The remainder of the Narrative Lectionary in the coming year will turn toward the Gospel of John, continuing this intentional journey through scripture.

We are in a cultural moment where determining what we see as the common good is critically important. There is an idea to this and how we express it, particularly in Word and music, manifested in worship. 2025 was particularly strong, as usual, with music.  

Creator was blessed this year by a variety of musical guest artists who enriched worship in meaningful ways. Bob, a percussionist Matt worked with, played at Easter, María Olaya, a Colombian guitarist, shared her gifts during Lent, offering music that was both reflective and prayerful. Drummer Lasana Kanneh and vocalist Marilyn Keller also contributed powerful musical offerings that expanded the congregation’s sonic and spiritual palette.

Throughout the summer, Creator’s Hiring Team conducted an intentional search for a new Music Minister. During this period, guest musicians were scheduled to provide continuity and care for worship music. The congregation is especially grateful for the steady leadership of pianists Josh Stromberg-Wojcik and Matt Lotz, who were the primary musicians supporting worship through the latter half of 2025.

Advent was a particularly inspiring season. A Midweek Advent service invited the congregation to experience our ongoing Music Minister search through a liturgical lens, weaving discernment and prayer together. Creator also hosted An Evening of Poetry, Prayer, and Advent Music with Mychal and Theresa Lotz. Mychal, who is being considered as a candidate for Music Minister, and Theresa offered reverent, beautifully shaped music that resonated deeply with the season’s themes of longing and hope. Both also shared their gifts during Sunday worship services in the latter part of December.

The Creator Choir continued to be a vital presence, singing on Sundays and leading music for Christmas Eve services. Under Mychal’s direction, the choir’s offerings brought depth, warmth, and joy to worship, closing the year with a strong sense of gratitude and expectation for what lies ahead.

December 28, 2025: First Sunday of Christmas: Why Many Feel Steadfastly Called to Gather & Worship Each Week

The number of people who attended the service today was not typical of attendance on the First Sunday after Christmas. Often, people have other priorities around the holidays. Travel, family, and holiday entertainment. Today, many people, including many from the Creator choir, were there to worship, and I reflected on why.

At Creator, I would say many gather and worship weekly not because we are certain, successful, or spiritually complete, but because God has promised to meet us in specific, ordinary means. Word and Sacrament are not rewards for our belief; they are gifts given for faith that is forming, nurtured, questioning, and growing.

Worship centers us weekly in grace. In a culture that measures worth by productivity, performance, or purity, we return to hear, again and again, that we are justified by grace alone. This rhythm shapes us into people who live from gratitude rather than fear.

The assembly itself matters. Lutheran theology insists that faith is not a private possession but a communal reality. We need one another’s voices to sing when we cannot, one another’s prayers when words fail, and one another’s presence to remind us that Christ shows up in bodies gathered together. Today's reading describing John the Baptist suggests being faithful is about being voices calling in the wilderness proclaiming who we believe our Messiah is today.

Many in the congregation I talk to feel justice-oriented lives are formed, not just informed. Liturgy, prayer, music, and ritual shape hearts over time in ways ideas alone cannot. Scripture is heard as a promise, not a weapon. Week after week, we listen for what God is doing for us and among us, trusting the Spirit to open texts through proclamation, context, and communal discernment rather than certainty or control.

At the table, we receive Christ beyond idea, but as nourishment. Holy Communion anchors justice-seeking lives in humility and mercy by reminding us that the work of reconciliation begins not with our action, but with God’s self-giving love.

Creator weekly worship sustains our public witness. Justice, advocacy, and accompaniment flow from worship, not as add-ons, but as responses. The liturgy sends us back into the world marked by the cross, committed to our neighbors’ dignity, and sustained for the long work of love.

We come to be voices insisting that beauty and mystery still matter. Even when certainty is elusive, song, silence, prayer, and symbol communicate truths beyond words by reminding worshipers that not everything must be solved to be meaningful. We may simply be following the promises or wishes once made by our parents or family. 

We practice the “already and not yet.” Worship becomes a rehearsal for the world as it could be, more just, more compassionate, even while acknowledging the world as it is . In gathering Sunday after Sunday, Creator practices hope. We lament honestly, confess truthfully, and still dare to sing. We rehearse God’s promise that death does not have the final word in the world God loves.

In past years, Creator has sometimes bypassed sermons on this day and opted instead for a service of lessons and carols. I love lessons and carols but, in keeping with the Narrative Lectionary reading we did not miss out on the glorious wisdom of this particularly spiritually significant and theological passage.  

We are reminded that regular worship gently but persistently asks: What story am I living in? It holds us to individual accountability to love, mercy, and the dignity of others. 

Many of us come each week because God has called us together. We return because God is faithful. And we are sent out, again and again, rooted in grace, freed for service, and formed by the gospel we share.

Today's Scripture reading

Pastor Emillie's sernon 

December 24, 2025 Creator's 2025 Christmas Eve Services

 “Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”  -Luke 2:19

Creator, like many churches on Christmas Eve, opened singing with O Come, All Ye Faithful. The Bm7♭5 “word chord”  served as, perhaps, a hidden and beautiful reminder to those gathered that Christmas is more than sentimental comfort, it’s cosmic disruption. Christ, the Word enters the world, and even the harmony has to wobble to make room. This chord is harmonically unstable and theologically loaded. Simultaneously, both an unforgettable tradition and an upending of all we want to hold onto tightly.

Opening her sermon, Pastor Emillie posed a clear, evocative question, "What does Christmas mean to you?" Many " snapshots" of both more public and personal memories went through my mind. 

This year I'm seventy years old. Suddenly, I flashed back to being seven, when my family celebrated Christmas with a Hickory Farms cheeseball, stuffing a Swedish sausage called potatiskorv, making krumkake cookies, and glögg, a traditional Swedish mulled wine.

My family would "dress up" and go to church. I still remember the scent of the wood in the pews and the dim light of the candlelight service. Christmas Eve has taken on many meanings throughout the years, and how we honor the holiday season has changed in significant ways.

In an earlier blog post, I quoted a line given in a recent film, “Maybe these stories of faith aren’t lies or fantasies like Disneyland. Perhaps they resonate with something deep and profoundly true inside us that we can’t express any other way.”

I thought about how intertwined what I find meaningful about Christmas is tied to and expressed by family and Creator. Pastor Emillie preached about the marvel of the Christmas story being told so many times and in multiple ways by people of different cultures.

Many of the musical highlights, besides the carols and Silent Night, Holy Night, I wrote about in A Midweek Advent Evening of Poetry, Prayer and Advent Music with Mychal and Theresa Lotz

 I will highlight a special song the choir sang, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" during the services at offering time. This was a change from Creator's children who would tentatively sing the verses, and then shout out the familiar chorus of Go Tell It On the Mountain.

“Do You Hear What I Hear?” is one of those Christmas songs that sounds gentle and childlike on the surface, yet carries a surprisingly urgent and hopeful message underneath. It is not "traditional" yer. The song was written in 1962, at the height of the Cold War, by Noël Regney (music) and Gloria Shayne Baker (lyrics). Regney, who had lived through World War II in France, was deeply shaken by the Cuban Missile Crisis. He reportedly couldn’t bring himself to write a conventional Christmas carol about sleigh bells and snow. Instead, the song became a prayer for peace, like Crosby / Bowie's "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" duet, wrapped in a Christmas story.

That context matters. This isn’t just a nostalgic carol; it’s a song asking whether humanity is listening when peace is being announced. There is a chain of hearing, emphasized in performance by the message being echoed within the choir. The song unfolds as a series of conversations:

• The night wind speaks to the little lamb

• The lamb speaks to the shepherd boy

• The shepherd boy speaks to the mighty king

• The king speaks to the people everywhere

Each voice passes the message along. Peace doesn’t arrive with thunder; it travels through listening, trust, and telling. That structure mirrors the Christmas story itself, angels speaking to shepherds, shepherds bearing witness, ordinary people becoming messengers.

One of the most striking moments comes at the end:

“Pray for peace, people everywhere.”

The king is told that the child is “small” but “strong as a mountain.” This is deeply biblical. Like the Christ child, strength is not military or political dominance, but moral and spiritual gravity, a power that draws people toward peace rather than forcing them into submission. 

This is a sharp reminder, and the song asks an uncomfortable question: Are we actually listening? Or have we heard the story so often that we stop letting it change us? 

In a world that continues to know war, fear, and political brinkmanship, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” feels as relevant now as it did in 1962. Its repeated question is not rhetorical. It’s an invitation, perhaps even a challenge, to tune our ears to the quiet, persistent call of peace that Christmas proclaims.

In that sense, the song isn’t just about hearing a message long ago. It’s about whether we’re willing to become part of the chain that carries it forward.

3:00 Christmas Eve Service

7:00 Christmas Eve Service 

June 8, 2025 - Pentecost Worship at Creator

The church moves today from the half-year of seasons (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter) that celebrate the life of Jesus to the long season of Pentecost, which explores what it means to experience and live Jesus’ teachings in THIS world, at THIS time. 

The service began in front of the church, where a liturgy and a Mortgage Burning Ceremony took place. From there, participants formally proceeded into the sanctuary, singing Come All Ye People.

The multilingual singing featured songs from Zimbabwe, Kenya and languages like Swahili, Spanish, and English. They all reflected the Spirit’s power to transcend barriers. The music spoke to our hearts and acted like a vibrant echo of the first Pentecost, when the disciples spoke in many tongues and all could understand. The Glocal Music team led songs that drew from global Christian traditions, weaving together rhythms and languages that celebrated the diversity and unity of God's people. Matt on piano, Bob and Luka on drums led the mostly young adult choir, making, at times, a completely joyous sound.

Inside the sanctuary, new red fabric banners and fiery, colorful streamer-shaped fabric adorned the sides of the worship space, everything a visual reminder of the Holy Spirit's presence. The sermon, besides working with the usual Acts description, was based on a reading from Galatians. Pastor Emillie invited us to imagine the Holy Spirit not as a distant force, but as a breath still blowing through our communities today, calling us to justice, joy, and radical love to resist the temptation to judge and divide rather than unify.

This Pentecost worship felt like more than a celebration. and more like a commission to dream. The church not only marked the end of a mortgage but the beginning of a renewed mission. We were reminded that the church is not a building, but a Spirit-filled people sent into the world.

The Sending Song was Shine, Jesus, Shine provided the perfect vehicle to express our thanksgiving for blessing of sharing this worship together.

 

Recording of the service:

November 10, 2024 - Shirley Peterson's Memorial

All photos by Ron Houser

There didn't appear to be an empty chair in either the sanctuary or narthex at Creator on Sunday afternoon for the memorial - but there was. And the attendees were acutely aware of the one who was absent. 

Everyone's bereavement and grief was an undercurrent as everyone tried to make it a celebration of her life yet the sorrow was still, obviously present. Shirley had a unique place in our lives. We were all bearing the weight of this loss, each of us feeling the absence of a person we cherished deeply.

Shirley chose John 14:1-4 as a message of comfort for the Gospel reading. She knew in this sorrow, we find would ourselves searching for some comfort and assurance. Jesus, knowing the fears and doubts of His disciples, said, 'Do not let your hearts be troubled.' The verse speaks to us today with these same words, inviting us to find peace in His promises.

This was a celebration of a life well-lived. Shirley engaged with and enjoyed everyone around her. She loved travel and excursions. Her love, kindness, and memories remained vivid with all of us and were abundantly shared.

Attendees included family and friends. There were past and current Creator members, the Creator Youth and SE Youth Collective were represented. Many members of choirs, both Creator and Tillicum Community Choir attended and sang. Past musicians including Marilyn Keller, A.J. McQuarters, Luke Stromberg, past Creator lead musicians, Kelly Carlisle and David Lee, together with Kim Lee Annie and Amy Miles who sang a delicate rendition of Wailin' Jenny's One Voice during the prelude.

The music was, as expected, stunning. Highlights included Kelly Carlisle on piano backed Marilyn Keller who sang an ardent, inspiring tribute to God and God's generosity - Great Is Thy Faithfulness. 

Luke Stromberg sang the solo and was backed by choir (that included the Creator and Tillicum choirs) on Carlisle's Nunc Dimmitus. The devotional impact of these words was intense.

Lord, let your servant depart in peace,
Now your promise has been fulfilled,
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
Which you have prepared in the sight of all,
A light to lighten the gentiles,
And the glory of Israel.

According to John's gospel after Jesus raised Lazarus Jesus told the crowd to do something as community after Lazarus came out with these words, “Unwrap him and let him go!” The Nunc Dimmitus served as our unwrapping and letting Shirley go in peace and confidence. 

The memorial ended with Keller and the choir leading everyone in an energetic, while also a prayerful Sending Song, May the Circle be Unbroken.

Shirley was a compatriot that stood side by side with many of us for so many years. She leaves her footprints on my heart and the memorial served as testament that there remains for each of us an empty chair in our lives now.

Novemer 3, 2019 - All Saints Day - What Brings People Together at Worship?

Today was All Saints Sunday. Worship opened with a Stewardship skit performed by Toni and Joe for the opening of Creator's 2020 Pledge Drive.

The liturgy setting moved from Call Us Home to Dancing at the Harvest. The  Call to Worship starts with the Ray Makeever's Come Let Us Worship God. The repeated "Welcome everyone ... to the love of God" took on special significance on this All Saints Sunday.

The altar decoration was significant as well. Besides the banners, which are newly contributed, white material was draped for this Sunday and remembrances and photos were added by members to recall the saints in their lives. Many had some deeply holy stories attached to those who contributed the objects.

Highlighted were 5 photographs that Ron added which brought back corporate memories of dear members of the congregation who had passed.

What brings people together at worship?

Today's Gospel starts to answer that question. Last year All Saints Sunday followed shortly after Creator's memorial service for my mother. Pastor Ray preached, among many topics this year, about the Beatitudes and the very Lutheran understanding that we are all sinners and saints. "We rightfully receive both the blessings and the woes Jesus speaks about in to the disciples." We receive the woes when there is self-satisfied, self-contentedness and the position that we have no need beyond what we can physically receive from the world we live in.

Jesus promises blessings to those in the world who are in situations where they may be perceived as weak or are wrapped up in life events an individual would not, by choice, find themselves in. 

What I felt last year I have been able to process a bit more and I would add something to Pastor Ray's observation in this year's sermon.

On the last All Saints Sunday the Gospel lesson was about Lazarus and helped me understand that the resuscitation of the physical body is not the central fact around the power of Jesus over death. The resuscitation of Lazarus is not, in itself, a sign of eternal life. What I do or don't believe about Jesus and death was not a factor in my mother's, or father's, eternal life any more than Martha's belief affected the resuscitation of Lazarus.

If this had been the point of John's Gospel the story Lazarus being alive would have emphasized far more, Lazarus might act beyond coming out of the tomb or speak, perhaps praising Jesus and proclaiming the power of God. Instead what happens is presented as incomplete, without that particular, expected and triumphant ending.  

Last year Pastor Ray described the crowd Jesus addressed to complete what happened to Lazarus as a character. When Jesus said, "Untie him and let him go" Pastor Ray preached that Jesus recognized community was needed to complete this miracle. I realized last year how much I needed a community at that moment of vulnerability. At times I felt strong companionship and at other times immense isolation.

This year I had moved from personal grief to finding I was wrapped up in community grief. All the remembrances at the altar helped me remember how important this circle of members were and are to me. Last year the Gospel focused me on what the unbinding of feet and hands really meant and how we let a person go. This year I remembered all the love-soaked grief I felt for all the community represented at the altar that was shared by the rest of the congregation. It was all about ways to not let go. 

So this year it was not a simple sinner-saint connection with the communion of saints. They felt much more immediately present. The apprehension of God's time versus man's time was palpable. The Beatitudes opened up for me in a new way. Rather than a moral statement standing in some sort of judgement about who is worthy and who isn't, it was about everyone who was invited to the kingdom of heaven and all life's blessings.

The Gospel continued with Jesus' familiar "turn the other cheek" when someone slaps you and "do not withhold your shirt"  Matthew shows us a little more detail about the words of the Lord than Luke did in this instance.  Luke speaks of someone that might smite, or hit, us.  Matthew adds that if someone should hit us on the ‘right cheek’, then we are to offer him our other, or left, cheek as well.  What is the significance of the right cheek?  Most people are right handed.  If you are facing someone and they strike you, which side of the face will they hit you on?  It would be on the ‘left cheek’.  To strike someone on the right cheek seems to indicate a ‘backhand’ slap, which is largely a sign of contempt and disrespect.

Pastor Ray preached what the Lord is teaching here is that if someone misuses us, if they disrespect us, if they treat us with scorn, we are not supposed to strike back at them and avenge ourselves but rather make them respect us by not allowing them to hit the left cheek again.

I have heard this before together with giving the shirt meant you would be naked and that would bring shame to the person who took the cloak. Pastor Ray preached this as a third way or responding to evil rather than resisting evil by ignoring it or by violence. This fits in with the non-violent protests of many who are attempting to achieve current political change but I am not sure that this reaction would be entirely done out of love or would be comparable to a prayer that Jesus advocates.  In any case, to live this out now you would need to come up with something new since the right cheek, left cheek does not have the same meaning in today's world.

Choir sang again today. We sang Find Us Faithful during Offering as people who had not already done so brought their picture and memories to the altar.

All in all I considered it a special All Saints Sunday worship service.

October 15, 2017 - Pastor Ray's Installation Service

This was the afternoon for Pastor Ray's Installation Service. Many attendees made noteworthy efforts to be there just based on geographical distance and I touched base with many people I had not seen for a long while and met several for the first time.

I have attended other pastoral installations and a bishop installation.  Each was a unique event. However, until today, I did not realize that pastors select their own readings for their installation service. Knowing that gave me the feeling this service provided a privileged perspective into Pastor Ray both as an individual  his ministry

Musically Matt, Shirley, Tini,  myself, Kim, Valentine at various times led the music. Leading with the number of pastors that were there who were all strong singers dramatically changed the dynamics of leading when compared to a standard Sunday service. I found myself hearing different deliveries at different times which helped me explore new approaches to familiar songs, very much like singing at Synod Assemblies in the past.

The new music for the congregation was just as intriguing. In Christ Alone came across like a pledge or promise and many did know this song even though it has not been part of worship at Creator before (the choir did sing it as part of a medley in a 2015 special music program). Creator is familiar with Tim Hughes' Beautiful One as a Praise Song. God of Justice evoked a quiet but similar sense of personal revelation about a discovered relationship with God   

Assistant to the Bishop, Pastor Susan, gave the sermon and she began by talking about how Creator could throw a party, referring to Pastor Dayle's January 10, 2016 Retirement Party. January 10th was the day when this current blog started. Given today's blog on today's Parable of the Great Banquet, it also felt appropriate and that there was another chapter closing and a new one opening. Creator is a congregation that celebrates milestones and there was a reception today after the service where the hospitality was evident.

In many different moments the congregation and Pastor Ray demonstrated this was a strong beginning to Pastor Ray's ministry here at Creator.