The Journey – July 2010
I have been doing a little looking back recently as a means of working into the future on a solid foundation. Shortly after first coming here First Christian Church, I arranged as many of our participating members into small groups as I could manage. Not knowing the populace of the congregation, I relied on folks who have been here many years to help and we felt that we were as thorough as possible given that we had a time constraint. I wanted to meet with everyone possible within my first 90 days here so that my decisions, leadership, and vision would match closely with the “spiritual DNA” of the congregation from the beginning of my ministry here. I felt then as I do now that your responses were heart-felt, genuine, and to the point. Looking forward a year from when I published a summary of your responses, it feels appropriate to fill the bulk of The Journey for this month with a few paragraphs from the beginning of that booklet, printed May 30, 2009:
I am amazed at the diverse paths that have brought all of you to this congregation. Some of you grew up in this church and some of you were baptized as adults. Some of you were baptized as children in churches here in town and later joined this church because of a marriage. Some of you were raised in churches in other towns and joined this church when you moved into the area. The most common thread in the midst of this diversity is that you either met or knew someone in this congregation and they became your “doorway” into the church. Several of you started coming here when you moved into town simply because this is the Disciples church here. None of you have said, though, that you started participating here because you found the church in the Yellow Pages. For many of you, the person who was your doorway had invited you to a Sunday school class, and so you noted that that class was your doorway. Whether a person was your doorway, or your doorway here was the tradition of being a Disciple, the key here is connection.
I was amazed to hear the stories of how faithful women in this congregation worked for years to host dinners and raise money to build the building we are in now at ten cents a meal. How many dimes does it take to build a church building? We are able to be here today because people were able to look long term past the immediate challenges and grasp a vision for what the people of the future would need. We are living in that future in the result of their faithfulness. Now we must look ahead as they did to see how God may be calling us to ensure that those who come behind us have an even stronger foundation than that on which we now stand.
When you discussed how this church has really been “church” for you, the most frequent type of response was around families and individuals experiencing tragedy or life-threatening situations. One or more people in the church reached out, prayed, visited, and provided profound support for these people. This goes way beyond just asking “How are you?” on Sunday morning. The people of First Christian Church have gone over and above what most people would expect in the average friendship today. Giving transportation to doctor appointments and surgeries, staying up late with sick friends, providing prayer circles while church friends are in surgery, or going to a friend in need at any hour of the day or night are hallmarks of how this church is “really church” for other people. For this church to carry on the legacy left by those who have lovingly gotten us here, we will continue to be this kind of church even for people we have not yet met. Who will be the people in small group sessions in the year 2050 who talk about how you were “really church” for them?
A great many of you expressed that you either started attending here or continued attending here because of one significant person. Also, many of you, when talking about when FCC was “really church” for you, expressed one significant person who sort of held you together through very difficult moments in your life. In the last 125+ years of this congregation, there have been stalwart, faithful people who have been unofficial mentors within the congregation, helping their fellow Christians through the worst of times, celebrating the best of times, and teaching the deep faith to which they held fast. The names that were mentioned night after night in our small groups sessions were Sue Albert, Carl Wayne, and Roscoe Hubbs. Many other people were mentioned, and while I hate to leave anyone out, these people deserve mention because of the sheer number of people here today who were significantly touched by their faithfulness and dedication. If they could get you a message from where they are now, they would likely tell you to not memorialize them and say how great they were. They would say that they were a person each of you can be. We do little to honor their memory if we only remember what they did for the kingdom of God through this congregation. The greatest honor we can bestow is to do our very best to teach, love, nurture, and guide the way they taught all of you to do. We have new people coming to worship on a regular basis. Many of you have met them and welcomed them. Who will be the people that these new people mention 20 years from now in the same light many of you talk about Sue, Carl, Roscoe, and other beloved people in the history of our congregation? Will you be one of those mentors? You can, you know. Deepen your faith, pray for others, be involved, and connect.
A really good reason for coming to church is that there is likely someone else who will be there who is looking forward to seeing and talking with you. Be there for them as well as any other reason. You may be a way that they experience the presence of God.
I hope and pray all of this touches you as deeply as it continues to touch me. If you would like to have a copy of the entire booklet, please let me know and I’ll gladly provide it to you. You are a blessing to this ministry, to me, and to our community. All of this is to orient our compasses as we continue along the journey.
Blessings to you,
Pastor Mark
