A Day of Blessing and Rejoicing

Today the church celebrates!  Well, every Sunday the church celebrates as God’s people gather as one to give thanks and praise and honor and glory to God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ!

But today is a day made even more special in that the giving of praise and thanks and honor and glory is magnified in the dedication and blessing of two significant additions to the landscape of the campus of Mt. Olive and the mission field God has placed in our loving care to tend and to grow.

At the start of worship today the church will bless the Bell Tower and Steeple.  Since the church has been at its 1604 location (now ten years) the 84 year old Bell has been encased in a compartment that was nestled behind a concreted column, as it sat on the back porch of the church.

Some years ago, two families of the church each experienced the loss of a loved one.  Lovingly and generously,  both the Klinkerman and Hudson families contributed to the church in memory of their loved ones, long time members of MTO, requesting that the church build a bell tower.

Today that tower (and the steeple above it) adorns the side of the multi-use facility. We bless the Bell Tower and Steeple today in loving memory of Arnold Klinkerman and  Nell Hudson, and we rejoice in God’s rich blessings upon His church at Mt. Olive. We pray that people will hear the bell ringing and see the cross on the steeple shining and be drawn to His church that we might embrace them with the Good News of salvation through Christ  Jesus alone.

At the close of worship the church will also dedicate and bless the new sign that shouts the name of God’s church at Mt. Olive to the travelers along busy 1604. Again, this  blessing was made possible by a generous contribution made by the Suckow family in memory of their parents,  Walter and Hilda Suckow, both members of Mt. Olive.  Additionally a generous contribution was made (anonymously) and  directed to be used in the erecting of the new sign.

These new tools of outreach and ministry stand along with the Hill of the Crosses  as  further evidence of God’s mighty hand in the working and growing of His church. We rejoice in the blessing of these structures and give all glory and thanks to God for His abounding mercy and grace, even as we remember in loving admiration those who gave that these beautiful additions might call others to God’s House.