This past Sunday was my first visit to worship with the congregation of First Lutheran in Waco. This is a congregation that made a difficult and courageous decision a couple of years ago. The knew they could no longer keep up with the growing cost of maintaining a building that was 150 years old. So they chose sustainability over sentimentality and sold their building.

The congregation chose to rent the chapel of a funeral home for a year to worship on Sunday mornings until they found a new home better suited to them. They now worship at the Episcopal Student Center at Baylor University. This has opened up new possibilities for them.

The space is just right for them too and beautifully decorated with paintings depicting the life of the church.

On this Sunday, their Synodically Authorized Worship Leader Austin Nickel was on call for his Clinical Pastoral Education. He is nearing completion of his preparation for ordination. I was very happy to cover for him, with good support from the choir and worship leaders.