Dear Morehead Family,
Wow! What a wonderful Welcome Weekend we had! Thank you to everyone who made it a great time of community, service, and worship. This past weekend we lived out our Christian discipleship as we invited many neighbors to enjoy community and connection through the movie night and Fall Festival. Many families joined us. There were so many joyful moments. The laughter coming from the dunking booth hosted by United Methodist Men, the joyful sounds coming from people winning prizes at the cake walk and fishing games hosted by United Women of Faith and the Chicks. The giant smiles from kids, their faces beautifully painted by Kayden. And folks sitting around the table together enjoying free hotdogs and Kona Ice or the kids’ delight in riding the ponies! Thank you to the Evangelism Team for helping coordinate Saturday’s festival!
My favorite moment of the festival was watching the kids teach each other and share the giant bubble maker. Kids of all backgrounds, who knew each other and who didn’t, shared and taught each other how to do it. I enjoyed the moment where kids of different ages and races were gathered around coloring the Love mural together. It was a tender little reflection of the kingdom of God to me.
On Sunday we gathered for a day of worship and fellowship. The music was so lovely as we blended various styles of worship and as we honored our history and looked forward in hope! In my sermon, I challenged us to let go of any anxiety about producing fruit, to genuinely abide in the presence of Christ, and to rest in God as we set out to build authentic community. Then, we shared a delicious potluck meal together.
In the evening on Sunday, our youth group took our food donations over the Spartan Open Pantry, where they sorted and stocked 126lbs of food that we collected over the weekend! Then the weekend ended with a handful of us Morehead folks joining the Reconciling Ministries Network for a community Pride worship service at College Place UMC. Overall, through the various events, we got to make many connections to new neighbors, we got to serve and love each other and our neighbors through the food drive, and we got worship our God and connect again to our mission of abiding in Christ and bearing fruit for God’s kingdom.
I am grateful to have shared in this special time with you all!
Rev. Nikki Raye Rice
Here are a few photographs of the weekend!
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