Faithful attendance at church meetings brings blessing you can receive in no other way. ~Ezra Taft Benson
I enjoy being at church with my church family every Sunday. Our congregation is small in number but we would love to welcome more people into our Christian family. Today we had Homecoming Day to celebrate our church being an organized body of believers for 2011 years. When 29 people first gathered for a church service in January of 1812 and called that church Goshen, Kentucky had been a state for a mere 20 years. Some years later the church where we still worship each Sunday was built and dedicated in 1889.
I’ve been going to Goshen for almost 60 years and every year (except that Covid year of 2020) we have had a Homecoming Day in October. In the early days we truly had an all day meeting with dinner on the grounds. We had preaching, with often a former pastor bringing the message, then dinner sometimes on wagons farmers pulled up into the yard or that was spread out on a counter in the basement of the Sunday school rooms added in the 1940’s. If it wasn’t raining, plenty of people would carry their plates of food outside to find a place to eat while visiting with the others around them. After we ate, everybody went back into the church for a time of memory and gospel singing.
Now we have the gospel singing in the morning before the meal. Everybody has fun catching up on the news and getting to see former members come back to do that remembering. We built a fellowship hall in 2007 and now we can eat and compare memories in air-conditioned comfort. But the spirit of those old church homecomings still hangs in the air. I was blessed by the friendship and love of so many of the older memories when I started going there as a young bride of 17. I fell in love with the people at that little church. Now I am one of those older members with all the memories of years of worshiping in this little country church.
We had a fun day today with almost all our church pews filled, the biggest crowd we’ve had since we celebrated our 200 years in 2012. Whenever I look back at the pictures of those other homecoming days, I always see so many who are celebrating the big homecoming in heaven. All three of these men enjoying dinner outside and the woman in the middle and her brother behind her in the top picture have moved on up to heaven. My memories of each of them are happy ones. I hope and pray that someday people will continue to worship in that little church and when they think of me that they will smile and remember something nice.
Caption Game
I enjoy turning my giveaways here on my blog into games that can be fun for you as well as give you a chance to win some books. The caption game is one that’s easy to play and I have about a zillion pictures I can look through to find a good one. Since I wanted to talk about Homecoming and start the caption game tonight, I picked a couple of pictures from Homecoming Days The one up at the top is from 11 years ago. I think it might be best for the Caption Game, but if you have a perfect caption for the other picture, that’s okay too. Just tell me if you are doing the men at dinner photo instead of the ladies and one fellow up top.
I’ll pick 3 winners, and the prizes will be the winners’ choices of one of my books. If you can’t think up a caption, any comment will do to get you an entry into the giveaway and a chance to win. I sent out a newsletter last week with a book giveaway too. If you’ve entered that, thank you. If you didn’t get the newsletter, let me know and I’ll send you one. But I promise you will have much better odds of winning here, but somebody will win that newsletter giveaway and this blog giveaway too.
The deadline to enter here is October 14, 2023 at midnight EST. That will give you four times to come up with a great caption for whatever picture I pick out of those zillion or two photos I have. Each time you come up with a caption (or a comment) on a new post, you get another entry into the givewaway drawing. You must be at least 18 to enter, but I’m great with you getting your kids or grandkids or dogs or cats or whoever to help you come up with great captions. So here goes.
What is the caption you would select for the top picture?
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” … and this one right here is my youngest grandson, you she see the way he….”
See, I think the piano would look better over there!
Picture with ladies and man
Oh look, this is an adorable couple, but who are they, does anyone know?
Top photo.
“Bingo! She has all the numbers…see… B8, I19, N 27, G40, O63, Yep, we have a winner here!!
Come on…another picture?
2nd photo of men.
“Yes, dear. I’m positive we have root beer in these red solo cups”.
“I think I might have misread the amount of salt needed in my pie recipe- is that a 4 like I thought or a 1?”
People might be a bit thirsty after a piece of that pie! Thanks for doing your fun caption game again! 🙂
“And these are my grandchildren, “she said, her voice filled with pride and love!
New Releases! Making a mental note of which ones need to be added to my TBR list.
Are they talking about me?
I love this post Ann. Happy Homecoming.
Look at those dresses their wearing back in the day.
Here’s my caption idea.. “That looks like Mary and Jim on the left but I’ve no idea about the other couple.” Thanks for sharing your church homecoming memories with us, Ann.
Men at the picnic picture: “Golly, this potato salad is even better than my wife’s”! ( other guy) “Sure hope his Wife, doesn’t hear about that”!
Hahahahahaha! That’s a great caption. 😂
Are you ladies sure your trio couldn’t use a bass?
Church homecoming are always enjoyable. My congregation had one several years ago. It was so much fun getting to see all the former members who came.
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That is the best part of homecomings for me, Marlene. I love getting to see the former members who return for another day at our church. We are losing many of those older members but I do enjoy visiting with those who can still come. I’ve been to many church homecomings. Not just at our church, but because my husband sings with a quartet and they used to be asked to all kinds of homecomings, I know all about those dinners on the grounds. Always some good eating and visiting.
Look George, they spelled your name wrong!
Ladies at the table photo.
Top photo:
Oh, look, that adorable toddler is all grown up and a mommy herself now!!
So love is the secret ingredient to make the noodles.
See, that IS written in the key of C!
Top photo:
No Norma, it says here you signed up to bring enough dessert for 50 people to the pot luck tomorrow!