A walk through history

I think often times in our traditional mainline denominational churches worship becomes very routine and stale. People come to church knowing what to expect, and unless something unexpected happens, such as the pastor dropping the bread during communion, they don't remember much. Worship is so much more then that though, and sometimes worship, even in the stalest environment, becomes something special and serves to remind us that whenever two or more are gathered in Christ's name, he is present. Today served as that reminder for me, and I hope for many people in our congregation. While I don't know that I did anything different, and I hope I didn't, there was a noticeably different feel to worship today. There was a buzz in the air, and you could sense the presence of God. It makes me confident of the path I am on in my life.
I went for a nice hike yesterday in the Galesville cemetery. While I think that many people are a little freaked out by these places, I have always found them to be a great source of peace and serenity. Pine Cliff Cemetery is situated on a hill right in the middle of town. From the top of the hill, the cemetery overlooks the city with a spectacular view. Looking the other way from the cemetery, it overlooks some great farm land and a small apple orchard. It is one of the most beautiful places I have found this summer. I had wanted to go in order to take a couple photos. I wanted to be able to remember my first funeral the week before, and the beauty of the short internment ceremony. I took so much more with me from this walk though. I was able to spend some time reflecting on my sermon for today. I didn't write it until late last night, and the thoughts I worked over during this walk were very helpful to me. I was also able to get a bit of a neat perspective on the history of the town somewhat. It was neat to see the cemetery laid out with large monuments spaced out with the last name of a family on it. Surrounding these stones, were smaller stones with individuals names and dates. Basically the cemetery was laid out in the 1800's with each family having an area of the cemetery that they were buried in. As time went on, this began to break down a little bit, and now it's a wonderful sight to see a stone dated in the late 1890's situated right next to a stone dated in 2003. I saw many family names that I know, and it was neat to take a small piece of history with me in my photos.
I have tomorrow off, and I'm hoping to do a little hiking up some bluffs here in town so I can grab a few more photos. It has been a beautiful week, and I'm looking forward to a fun Independence Day.