University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications
Sunday’s worship at Midway Presbyterian Church was more than just a regular service. The April 26 service was held outside and was the setting for the second annual creation celebration, encouraging the celebration of animals, plants and all of God’s creations.
The creation celebration is tied to Earth Day, April 22. Pastor Mary Seeger Weese (in photo) said, “It’s sort of a submersion of Earth Day and a celebration of God’s creation at the same time.”Weese said the celebration was also about the church’s community garden, which has grown tremendously. “It’s like twice as big as it was last year and a lot more people other than just people involved in the church that are doing it,” Weese said. “So we’re just excited about this whole thing it’s just kind of grown and grown and grown just like God’s creation tends to do, so that’s exciting.”
This year’s celebration was shorter than last year’s. Weese said last year the event was celebrated over four Sundays during April, during which they discussed God’s creations and how to honor it. This year they decided to make it a one-Sunday event.
It was a beautiful morning for an outdoor service: warm and sunny. There were approximately 50 people in attendance. Most brought their dogs, and a few brought some other interesting things such as two guinea pigs, a potted plant and a stuffed leopard. They were all out to celebrate God’s creation and waiting to be blessed by Weese.
Gay Barnett, a member of the church all her life, said this service is special and one of her family’s favorites to attend. “It’s definitely the children’s favorite service. It’s nice to be able to come and be casual and have our families and our pets with us.” The Barnett family brought their dog Daisy and a potted plant to the celebration to be blessed.
One thing Weese and Youth Minister Brent Giuliani wanted to encourage was the sense of community brought together for the celebration. Giuliani said there were people at the church service he had never seen before. “It’s not like we’re trying to get more numbers, we just want people to come and share in God’s love,” he said. “And we want them to feel accepted by us and feel a sense of community and friendship; we’ll welcome them with open arms.”
Onedia McClure has been a member of the church for 17 years. She said she loves days like Sunday’s celebration when everyone comes together to celebrate and be with one another. “I love the people, I just the love the community in our church the members and just the church in general.”
Bill and Leslie Penn joined Weese in playing music at the service.
The church was founded in 1846 on land deeded from the railroad. The building still stands as it was from when it was founded. Remnants of the historic building can still be seen today. Everyone is welcome to the church anytime. Sunday discipleship is at 9:45 a.m. and worship services begin at 11 a.m. Also, don’t forget to stop by and see the community garden grow!
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