Day 2
Fortunately the rain held off when we awoke this morning in Charleston. There was some slight drizzle but most of it came after we had loaded the luggage onto the bus. After breakfast we gathered at the bus. Sully introduced our day, led us in saying our creed, and said a beautiful prayer as we began our day.
Our bus driver, Paul, dropped us about 2 blocks from Saint Philip’s this morning and we walked down to the church. The worship bulletin for the service this morning was 12 pages long! We Baptists had to keep our eye on the script in order not to get lost in the liturgy. It was a beautiful service and our kids got to experience not only communion, but the baptism of three young children. The priest at Saint Philip’s was away in Greece, so Bishop Hathaway led the service and did a beautiful job. He baptized his great grandson during the service.
Both David Marion Day and Ben Nimmer joined us for worship this morning at Saint Phillips. David Marion actually sang with the choir during worship this morning. It was wonderful to see them both.
One Voice began the service by singing an a cappella introit in the narthex and then processed down the aisle during the first hymn. We sang 2 other anthems in the service. Mr. Rick messed up a little and asked the choir to exit the choir loft for communion at the wrong time. The kids said they knew I was wrong, but they obediently followed my instruction anyway.
The church provided lunch after worship: chicken casserole, rolls, and chocolate chip cookies. It was delicious and we all wanted to bring the recipe home with us.
We continued our trip up the coast to Wilmington during the afternoon. We ran into some pretty bad rain storms but luckily we were driving and it didn’t bother us. By the time we got to Wilmington, the rain had stopped and we unloaded the bus and set up for our evening service at First Baptist.
The church prepared supper for us and served delicious pizza and soft drinks. Even though we were a little tired, the choir did an outstanding job tonight. We were worried about Andrew’s voice, but he really did a well with his solo. All the actors were on spot and the presentation was was well received by the church.
I realized that the Minister of Music at First Baptist Wilmington was the son of classmates at Furman University, Roberta and Marshall Thomason. This took me took me surprise and made me realize I could be his father.
We don’t know how Chris does it, but she found an outstanding hotel here in Wilmington. We are staying at the Hampton Inn Downtown and it is beautiful. Everyone is ecstatic with how nice the rooms are. Jackson Garrett lead our devotion this evening, after Ella led us in singing. Jackson’s devotion was so honest and personal. The discussion made us all think about our personal relationship to Christ and how it needs to be central in our lives. He used the scripture, Revelation 3:16, where Jesus said there is no acceptable “lukewarm” relationship. We will either be hot or cold.
FBC Wilmington sent delicious brownies for our group to bring back to the hotel. It is sometimes surprising who can eat the most brownies. Occasionally it’s a petite soprano that scarfs down the most brownies, right Kailyn?