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Instructions from the Rev. Bob Graves given to members of Holy Trinity, in Pensacola, included: "If you have a smart phone, or cell phone, please bring it with you to church this Sunday. You will have an opportunity to use it during the service in order to give someone a very special message. I will tell you at the right time what that message is to be, but in preparation for your call, please decide who you will call and have their number with you. As part of the homily, I will tell you why we are doing this. I think doing this will be a fun surprise for all of us."
With the setting being the story of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles when people were hearing in their own languages about God's deeds of power, Fr. Bob told us it was now the time to call the person we each had chosen. We were to tell them that we were calling from the midst of our service and the message was "God loves you because are his beloved child". We made our calls and you could hear voices all around the church as we each connected and the conversations that followed. It was an amazing and beautiful sound and even more amazing were the stories of the responses that were shared during fellowship time after the service. When the last conversation ended and before we continued with the Creed someone started clapping and that was quickly joined by the rest of us with big smiles. Why not? God's deeds of power had just been told!