Picture Day

By Rev. Ethan Brown
Pastor and Minister of Care & Discipleship

One of my favorite features of Google Photos, which stores the pictures from our phones, is that it puts together slideshows from different dates and randomly displays them at the top of the app home page for me to click on. On any given day there may be photos from five years ago or fifteen years ago or last week—images of old birthdays or mission trips or baby Basil. These last pictures, those of Basil, are my favorite because he has and continues to change so quickly. Most of these pictures are sweet moments of baby smiles or milestone events or Basil with various family members, but every now and then a picture of Basil will appear red-faced, clearly screaming and unhappy. Caitlin has said that she intentionally takes these pictures to remember that though she calls him perfect, he still has and expresses the full range of toddler emotions. A few weeks ago it was picture day at Basil’s school. Caitlin picked out cute clothes for him to wear—my choice was rejected—and we reminded him to say “cheese” real big when the moment arrived. Later we got some preview pictures from his teacher. He managed to stay in his clothes for the picture and smiled beautifully. We also realized that his teacher had combed the wild nest of his hair into a semblance of order. Something we almost always forget to do. Though we need and cherish the authentic pictures, it is nice to have a few where Basil doesn’t look feral.

Pictures are special. They capture an instant in time and help shape our collective memory each time we look at them. We are transported back to the moment the picture shows and the way it shows it. This Sunday and Wednesday we have a photographer coming to take pictures of our church for our new website and promotional material. While the photos will include pictures of the grounds and the building, the church we really want to capture is the people who make up this special community. Your presence, on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, at dinner groups in homes, or running into one another around the town, is what makes this community a church. We hope these photos can share just a bit of that reality with whomever may see them, and perhaps help us remember these wonderful people many years from now.