The Mount Tabor Church recently celebrated a special homecoming Sabbath, rejoicing over the more than 70 years Mount Tabor has been a church home for its neighbors. This special report comes from 12-year-old member, Valerie S.

I go to an adorable little church called Mount Tabor. On Saturday, October 17, we had a Homecoming Sabbath where we celebrated over 70 years of the Mount Tabor Church! A whole bunch has happened in those years! Kids have become adults. Some adults have had families. There have been graduations, weddings, and birthdays…our church has seen it all! Although people might change, Mount Tabor will always be home to all who enter its doors.

After weeks and weeks of planning, cleaning, advertising, mailing and e-mailing, the anticipated Homecoming Sabbath finally came! Our little church doubled in size! I didn't know that that many people knew about our church! Several former pastors came, along with people who hadn’t come in years. Some of those people were from when my mom was a little kid! We even had some of my friends come. I hadn't seen them in a while and had been missing them.

During our worship service, we had some of our former members help lead us in singing. We definitely made a joyful noise unto the Lord! After that, several church members shared some memories of the church and people there. It was so meaningful that it actually brought tears to people's eyes! The kids of Mount Tabor took an extra special part in the service by performing a skit. It was all about how the people who make up the family of God are not all the same. Think about it—if everybody were like me the world would be crazy! Crazy fun, I think, but still crazy! I'm so glad our Creator made us all different—now I can have people to balance me out.

Another thing that made our service great was the four different pastors who came. We took some time to acknowledge these great leaders. After pastor Katelyn (our here-and-now pastor) finished her thought-provoking sermon, we closed it up with the song “Rise with the Sun,” which reinforced the idea of coming together as a family to join in praise. After the service, everybody was invited to come join us in our fellowship hall for a massive potluck! I ate so much that I couldn't eat another bite! It was all delicious! The fun continued later that evening with vespers to close out the Sabbath and then a game night with pizza! I cannot think of a better way to end our fantastic Homecoming reunion!

As you can see, Homecoming Sabbath was a blast! I highly recommend it. There is nothing quite like getting together with the family of God. Think about it: will you be at Mt. Tabor’s next homecoming?