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Tie-Dye Dreams

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I love my little town in the North Central part of Massachusetts. These people are my tribe! We are greatly varied in the way we view the world, but we hold our region in common and the land ties us together in deeper ways than most of us realize.

TRINITY THE TIE-DYE ARTIST

The first line of our church’s mission statement is ‘WHILE DOING LIFE TOGETHER”.

DOING LIFE TOGETHER is how we are beginning to see the world. We are in this TOGETHER. We are better TOGETHER. It is WHILE DOING LIFE TOGETHER that we now share the LOVE OF CHRIST.

AMANDA AND PAM, TIE-DYE ARTISTS

I am proud of our little town. Over the last few years I have sensed a growing spirit of cooperation. Oh, we still have our divisions, but I see a growing number of people willing to reach across the chasms of thought to join together in making our region a stronger community. I see it in the work of the HEAL COLLABORATIVE. I see it in the dedication of the Winchendon Community Park. I see it in the Taste of Winchendon Fairs and the Parks and Rec events throughout this summer. I see it in the library’s One Book One Community conversations.

TRINITY STARTS MY SHIRT

AND I saw it today in the town’s first ever WINCHENSTOCK. A tip of the town’s hat to the 1970’s and a fundraiser for our local COMMUNITY ACTION COMMITTEE. My daughter, Amanda, and her team ran the tie-dye booth. I was afraid to tie-dye my own shirt, so Trinity did the art work for me. I can’t wait to wear this in the pulpit in honor of what is building in our little community!

MY SHIRT WILL NEED TO SET FOR NINE HOURS AT LEAST AND THEN BE RINSED OUT THOUROUGHLY AND DRIED

Family Weekend

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This weekend we had a family reunion on my mother’s side. I was originally going to hold it at the church, but we all know we are in a season of lasts with Mom. This may be her last opportunity to see her family all together in one place, so I opted to hold it at The Vicarage.

Sevy and Kristine got to meet Uncle Tom, and my cousin Nada and her husband Ray

My cousin Matthew and his wife Brittney came with their children Justice and Aria.

My cousins Todd and Dan andMike and Barbara also came. Later my daughter Melanie came with her children.

The biggest hit of the day with the adults was the catching up with each others’ lives.

The biggest hit of the day with the kids was the solar bird bath and the pile of stones in the driveway.

WHAT DO YOU DO AT YOUR FAMILY REUNIONS?

Getting Ready

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The Vicarage is hosting a family reunion of the Tenny cousins this Saturday.

Melanie, James and Joe helped me set up the three party tents as part of the yard work we have done. Amanda mowed part of the lawn and I mowed part. I did some hedge cutting yesterday and some weed whacking.

Now we just need to pick up some extra chairs and we should be all set.

ARE YOU HAVING A FAMILY REUNION THIS YEAR?

I Am Bowser

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It was a week of celebrations in a season of celebrations at the Vicarage.

Of course the Lillie VI family came home. HUGE CELEBRATION AT THAT EVENT!

Not only that though, this week marked my oldest granddaughter’s fifth birthday. That I have a five year old granddaughter is beyond astounding to me. That I have all my children and grandchildren within five minutes of where I live makes me unbelievably blessed. I will revel in it for however long I have the privilege of it.

Daniella decided she wanted a Princess Peach birthday party. She of course got to be Princess Peach.

Her sister got to be “Mickey Hero”…. I do not know who that is, but Abigail seems to have taken on the role with serious gusto.

We had a great party with all the royal attendants in attendance.

And I even got to play a role in the weekend….By royal edict of Princess Daniella Peach and Mickey Hero Abigail I was dubbed Sir Bowser The Monster Villain!

The Ones Who Carry the Song

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The kids and grandkids came over last evening. We took a walk to the playground with the kids and while the girls were sliding and climbing my daughter Melanie and I had a conversation about singing. I can’t sing like I used to. I am out of singing shape and my voice doesn’t obey me as it once did.

There was a time when I sang for a living. The congregation expected me to carry its song, and my bosses (the lead pastors) were expected to carry the vision. The song serves the vision and in a perfect world breathes life into the vision so the people are inspired to follow the vision’s path. I guess that is a little heady, but it is a good metaphorical explanation about the place of worship in a church congregation.

I am no longer the worship leader. I am the lead pastor. I now carry the vision and the song is carried by others.

Jody Clapp, our lead worship director and a deacon in the church

Melanie Franklin one of our worship leaders

Patrick Cortiss one of our worship leaders and an assistant at the Worship Room.

Jon Bauver one of our worship leaders and the director of the Worship Room. I am glad for those God has commissioned to carry the song now.

Storyworth, the New Lawn Mower and the Smoke From Fires

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I have a few random updates for you from The Vicarage today.

For Christmas last year, I bought my mother a subscription to the Storyworth App. I haven’t written much about it these last few months because I sort of fell off the story making wagon. But we have gotten back to it these last few weeks. I have been listening to stories about Mom’s first boss, Josephine Martin, and about how she got her first car. As with most things with Mom these days the stories come in small bits and pieces which I have to put together like a puzzle at the end, but that is half the fun really.

Yesterday I got the new mower set up and running.

It is so quiet. I love the fact that it is electric.

I did the front and side lawns last night. Those are my mowing boots.

Even Amanda got into the fun today. She doesn’t have mowing boots.

We are working hard to get ready for the arrival of Joe, Kristine and Sevy in just fourteen more days. I even bought three easy ups for use as family comes in to say hello to the returning Lillies.

Today the sky is extremely hazy and humid. According to our phone apps this is all due to the fires up in Canada.

I have been awakening in the middle of the night these last several night with severe muscle aches and headaches. I had to get up to take Motrin and stretch at 3 A.M. this morning. I didn’t even consider the cause, until breakfast, when my daughter asked if I have been sleeping with my window open.

Well that’s all for today. It is time for me to spend some time practicing tomorrow’s sermon.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

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Yesterday the Parks and Rec department of our town held the third annual food truck festival. We bought supper at the festival and then I volunteered to clean up when the event shut down at 9 P.M.

Today all that its left to show that a thousand people gathered in the park yesterday is the event tent, the portages potties, a flat bed that the Battle of the Bands used and the deflated bouncy house all awaiting pick up by the rental companies.

Today Amanda and I went for a couple of hours to help a church family with a move. Tomorrow I will preach the next sermon in our series from the Book Of Revelation.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow. Each day comes to pass. What remains is the relationships we build with each other.

Sometimes It Takes a While

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In 2013 I was given an opportunity to be part of a project geared to bring our community together.

Our small committee of very diverse individuals representing several micro communities and various town boards in our town met for months trying to come up with a project that would bring the whole town together.

After several months we came up with an idea. Ingleside!

Ingleside was a 43 acre waterfront property owned by a local private school. We wanted the town to purchase the property somehow and to turn it into a gathering place for all the communities of our community. The dream was that it would come become a uniting place.

It took a few years and A LOT OF MEETINGS to work out the land deal.

Obtaining the land was just the first step. Clearing the land and turning it into a meeting point was the bigger job.

The shifts in ministry in 2018 meant I ended up leaving the committee after the land deal was done. My little part of the dream of Ingleside was done.But others picked up the gauntlet and ran with it.

Trails were blazed

Uniting points were created.

Last year a grant was obtained to build an outdoor amphitheater.

On Saturday I got to volunteer as an usher for the grand opening of the amphitheater!

Sometimes it takes a while, but dreams really can come true!