What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ is a sentiment that I’ve never really understood. It’s not the suggestion of keeping secrets that troubles me. I know the importance of holding something in confidence, it’s that the concept just doesn’t make sense to me. As people, we are the sum total of all our experiences. Everything we do leave its mark upon us. Sometimes that mark is subtle, sometimes it is significant, but always there is something. So the idea that we could confine all remnants of a particular experience to a set place and time just doesn’t ring true. Basically it is wishful thinking and I’m really glad it is. 

What happens in Vegas cannot stay in Vegas the very same way that what happens in First Church cannot stay in First Church. What we hear, what we sing, what we learn and what we say within these walls goes with us when we leave the building and venture into God’s world. It is called living our faith, also known as, loving our neighbor as ourselves. 
It what happens when we see our church family out and about town and ask after their wellbeing, or when we volunteer alongside them, or when we serve in the community with them. Each in our own way we are acting on what we’ve heard and learned in church. We are sharing mercy, offering hope and reflecting God’s grace to all. 

It is why a brick and mortar life is such an apt and accessible description of who we are as a community of faith and as people of God. Our faith in the God who created, renewed and sustains us carries us through our days and is present in and around each of the bricks of our lives. Whether we are working, playing, traveling, eating, sleeping or shopping God’s gracious presence is with us building us up and holding us together. 

What happens at First Church does not stay at First Church. Thanks be to God and to each of you for that. 
Donna