Opening Worship

Post Author: Amber Inscore Essick

The last words of Rev. Rebecca Immich Sullivan’s sermon from opening worship at the Young Clergy Women’s Annual Conference on Monday, July 29.

Opening Worship
7-29-19

There were arches

and a peak

made of wood

and polished,

carved with a

clover symbol

for the Holy

Trinity.

And feathers were laid

on the altar,

beyond the rail

where the minister presides,

which was draped

with green and white

for ordinary time.

And the organ pipes

spread their arms

in welcome

and pursed their lips,

poised to sing,

but yielded

to the lighter notes

of the piano’s

joyous song.

And infants nursed,

And toddlers gave

their voices to

the large spaces

between our prayers.

And the pews

creaked amicably

beneath us

adding their amens

to the gospel

according to Mary

and to “Martha, Martha,”

too,

and “our presence was

gift enough.”

Rev. Amber Inscore Essick is a plant vulture, bird watcher, and seed collector. She co-pastors Port Royal Baptist Church, a rural Baptist congregation along the Kentucky River. She is the Adjunct Professor of Christian Worship at Baptist Seminary of Kentucky. Her three kids are awesome, her husband is infinitely patient, and she has piles of papers from 2016 still waiting for her attention.

Image by: Amber Inscore Essick
Used with permission