Maybe It's Magic
/by Rev. Kay Ash
I never tire of how absolutely beautiful the Kessler Park UMC campus is. Roberts Forest takes my breath away all the time. How can it be so consistently beautiful day after day, year after year? Maybe it’s some type of magic; maybe extra blessings from God fell onto this place and each blessing tries to show off more than the others!
When trustees originally bought this land from Jerome Dealy, they knew they had something special. In 1945 Pastor Paul Cardwell describes the land this way: “The location is richly endowed by nature with native trees, shrubs, vines and natural beauty which rate second to none in the entire city.” The saints of this church knew it was beautiful and they tended it as a gift for us now. How can we ever possibly thank them enough times? How can we ever appropriately appreciate how our neighboring brothers and sisters in Christ breathe, walk, sit, play and heal within Roberts Forest? I think it is fair to say that the neighborhood has caught on to the magic and abundant blessings. Roberts Forest is a constant hub of activity.
One of the important happenings in Roberts Forest has been this season of Wednesday Night Live. To summarize, young people between the ages of 4 and 14 arrived on our beautiful campus to play, eat, learn Bible stories, pray and bless each other. We started in mid-September of 2022 and just completed our season last Wednesday. When we began in September we had 22 students, brave adventurers who made it through the pandemic. Even Junior High students kept showing up, who would have thunk they would want to spend an evening with little kids? I remember that parents and I had several discussions about the program - whether it would be able to survive with a small group, whether students would want to come back week after week. Remembering those conversations recently, we all laughed.
The spring of 2023 was a bubbling experience of growth with week after week after week of new students. For several months now Roberts Forest has hosted 50+ kids per Wednesday. Several families told me they gave up other Wednesday night activities (like soccer or dance) so the kids could attend Wednesday Night Live. When was the last time anybody gave something up to go to church? In total, your church served 72 children with help from 10 adults in the fall and 23 adults in the spring. Special thanks to Taryn Climer for being the glue that held us all together!
As you know, however, numbers rarely represent the full picture. Pre-school students brought their Barbie’s and created rich stories in the sandbox or saved the world from monsters; large groups of boys played massive and wildly emotional kickball tournaments; equally large groups of girls put on elaborate shows and tumbled; youth held court with throngs of adoring younger kids hanging on their every word. Wednesdays were magic and blessed.
After all the eating and playing, magic and blessings, we would sit together in a circle and share Bible stories. During the weeks of fall, we concentrated on the grand narrative stories of the Hebrew Bible: creation, Noah, Abraham, Joseph and Moses. Some of the kids knew the stories but many were hearing them for the first time. In the spring, we focused on Jesus’ birth and then the parables. Sometimes it was hard to share the story because the kids were so excited and talkative. Then, as our numbers grew, they started arguing over who got to give the prayer and who got to give the blessings. These are all wonderful problems to have!
Finally, last Wednesday, one parent after another came up to me with thankfulness. Wednesday Night Live turned into the highlight of week for many. Kids want nothing more than to be free and safe and unconditionally loved for a little while. Parents want to relax and to see their kids joyfully happy. Roberts Forest is where all that happens. Roberts Forest is magic that way, filled with blessings and giggles and the Holy Spirit.
Wednesday Night Live will take a break during the hot months of summer and will return again in mid-September for a new season. Come by and see the ever growing group of children for yourself, feel the electricity of their essence, remember the magic of Roberts Forest one more time. The Holy Spirit will meet you there.
Blessings,
Pastor Kay