Last fall, with my 50th Birthday approaching, I said to my wife that I really couldn’t think of anything that I needed for my birthday, but. . . there was this one crazy thing. . .
So, last Friday, I found myself in a small English village – Trudoxhill – in the picturesque county of Somerset – about 30 minutes from the ancient stone circle known as Stonehenge – meeting people that I have only known from watching them on YouTube.
As many of you probably know, I love to play the guitar. And my main hobby – when it comes to guitar – is collecting and playing through guitar effects pedals. I plug my electric guitar into a bunch of small boxes with switches and knobs on them (guitar pedals) and then plug into an amplifier. Each pedal can manipulate the tone of the guitar in fun and different ways and, when they are placed in a certain order, the sounds that come out of the amplifier can be quite glorious. I’ve been playing around with guitar pedals for over twenty years, but in the past ten years, I have learned a lot about pedals from YouTube, specifically a show called “That Pedal Show,” which is hosted by two guys named Dan and Mick.
Dan and Mick use their immense knowledge about guitar pedals as well as their immense collection of guitar gear and make some glorious sounds in their tiny studio in Trudoxhill and, once a month, they invite six participants to an Experience Day. Last Friday, I attended an Experience Day – a gift from my wife, who stayed home with our two boys and sent me with her blessing to meet Dan and Mick and five other participants: Jamie (from the Netherlands), Behrnard (from Germany), and Will, Jon, and Bruno (from the UK).
The whole Experience Day was loads of nerdy fun! We talked about pedals and guitars and amplifiers and how we use them to make music. We talked about the state of the world, and the music we love, and what it’s like running a small YouTube channel with niche subject matter in 2026. We also were able to make some loud sounds in Dan and Mick’s studio. And, I’m pleased to say that the small pedalboard that I had carried from New England to England sounded great.
But beyond the equipment and the conversation about it (which was all fantastic!), I also experienced something deeper – from being greeted with hugs and handshakes to sitting around the table and enjoying a meal together, laughing together, sharing our stories and lives with one another, helping with the dishes, and being supportive of one another. Even though I had never met Dan, or Mick, or any of the others in-person, I felt like we were all friends by the end of the day. We had all been part of an online community, together, but nothing beats an in-person community. And, over the course of eight hours, we built one.
The walls of the “That Pedal Show” global headquarters reverberated with a lot of sound waves caused by loud guitars and amps, but they also reverberated with a sense of common life together and love of community – something that only happens through the loving reverberations of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
This coming Sunday is the Annual Meeting of the Congregation, a day on which we will celebrate some of the many (many, many, many, many) blessings of THIS community and the ways the Spirit draws us together and leads us out into the world for the building of the beloved community. I know that the walls of our church reverberate with the faithful voices and actions of the generations that have gone before us but they also reverberate with our own voices and actions – our love and service, our hospitality and our hope, our words of comfort and acts of compassion, all of which are found in this in-person, God-breathed community of faith.
This Sunday, we will be welcoming the Scouts for Scout Sunday (and will be joining with them in their delicious annual Brunch in lieu of Coffee Hour). We will also be joined by those who have said “Yes” to serving as Deacons and Elders and celebrating the act of ordination and installation during the worship service. It’s going to be a full day, but that’s not a bad thing!
See you in church!
Grace and Peace,
John
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Prepare for Worship
This Week: “Shining the Way – You are the Light of the World”
Read Psalm 112
Read Isaiah 58:1-10
Read Matthew 5:13-20
Read or sing Hymn # 755 – “Alleluia! Laud and Blessing”