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Salem members of all ages joined us for worship on Sunday, September 12, 2021. This was perhaps one of the highest energy Sundays since before the pandemic began. While the church wasn't necessarily packed, it felt full again and like we had a lot of people there as well as attending online.

Among the highlights of the morning was a worship band made up of youth representing three different churches in the area. Again, I want to thank Thomas Philaya (Salem), Andrew Soden (Refuge Church) and Madi VanBinsbergen (United Methodist Church) for leading the worship music for us on Sunday, September 12, 2021. They will return to join us again at some point. Thank you also to the congregation for showing support and encouragement for these young musicians. They led us in Setting Three, which is the jazzy sounding worship setting, and not the easiest one to do. 

Thank you to others who worked in the kitchen to serve BBQs and chips to those present, many of whom stayed around to visit. Thank you also to the Sunday School parents who attended and also stayed to serve ice cream sundaes after worship.

Perhaps the biggest "Welcome Back" for me was when a young man named Briggs, who is 6 years old and in Kindergarten came up to me after worship to say "Thank you!" I want to extend Briggs' "Thank You" to everyone, and to God, for being a part of our special day to worship and spend time together. Briggs also gave me a BIG HUG - almost knocking me over! Briggs is looking forward to Sunday School this weekend.

Most of all, we thank God for graciously bringing us through an unusual time the last year and a half. And while I believe what was once "normal" is now in the past, the Holy Spirit will show up in familiar ways as together we welcome God's future.

MP