Merging is a New Journey - A Sense of Belonging Before I Belong

It has been a while since I posted.  Not much has gone on since my last post.  Our merger is still progressing, as far as I know.

But I just wanted to write about how, even though we have not officially deconsecrated our sanctuary and started worshipping in person with Poughkeepsie UMC (due to COVID-19 stuff), there has been a sense of belonging before I belong.

It started about three weeks ago when someone from the church called and left a message on our voicemail, checking in with us, knowing we were going to become part of the church family and making sure we knew about the online worship (we did - my sister and I have been watching since it started) and that if we needed anything, we could call.

We were not yet part of the family, yet we were being checked on like part of the family.

Then fast forward to this past week.  It was my niece's 8th birthday.  I am not shy about my love for my niece.  Originally she had great plans for her birthday weekend.  But, of course, COVID-19 changed all that.  She wasn't able to go out.  She couldn't celebrate her birthday like she wanted.  So I tried to come up with special ways to make the day a bit better.

First was reaching out to my UMC of Wappingers family and asked them to send a card or note.  A bunch did - so thank you for that!  It was a great surprise to her and my sister.

But then I took a stab and reached out to our soon-to-be new pastor, Pastor Jody, and asked if he would make a video wishing Anastasia a Happy Birthday.

Anastasia after she watched the video from Pastor Jody

And you know what?  He did.  Not only did he say happy birthday, but he sang to her.  And she was quite happy about it.  (See photo evidence to the left.)

It has been a long time since I have had the experience of being in a new church family.  I've welcomed new people.  I've met new people as I do things around the district.  But all this truly made me feel like I was part of the family...even though technically we aren't yet.

Thank you Poughkeepsie UMC for making us feel so welcome.