Thanksgiving, dedication and blessing

I have been back to work now for over a week and today was my second Sunday back after the 3 month sabbatical.

This morning's Parade Service included an act of thanksgiving, dedication and blessing as Amelie's parents came to give thanks for her, dedicate themselves to her nurture and pray with the whole church family for God's blessing on her growing life. Amelie behaved superbly and I seem to be doing well recently with the children brought on these occasions - no screamers or wailers for quite some time. Perhaps it is the grandfatherly aura! Long may it continue.

As part of the service we thought about what the words thanksgiving, dedication and blessing meant, with the children of the uniformed organisations giving me their thoughts. There are one or two who are already heading towards being philosophers.

As part of the service we watched a small clip from Habitat for Humanity about building basic houses for people in South Africa. This was where one of our church members went earlier in the year as part of the project. We were reminded that the work of building these houses is a real 'blessing' for people who usually live in damp shacks. But we were also reminded by one of the volunteers on the film clip of how 'blessed' she felt by being part of the project herself. Perhaps being a blessing and being blessed often( if not always) go together.