WAITING FOR THE CALL

An old friend stopped by unexpectedly this morning and it was great to see him. He and his family are part of the ever-increasing number of Long Islanders for whom life became a struggle here and so they found a whole new life in a far less expensive part of the country. It's a pity.

I asked about the church they're in and he mentioned they go to a good church but are not really involved. He explained that having volunteered to work together in the church nursery some Sundays, five months later neither he nor his wife have heard anything further about it.

He joked that something like that would never happen in a church I pastor! I've discovered that I have this reputation for getting folks involved. Other pastors ask me how I do it, but I honestly don't have a clue.

Seems to me there is a clear choice to make - you either attend a church or become a part of it. The way you become a part is to take on a role, whatever that may be.

Attenders have never excited me. I can't imagine just rolling out of bed every Sunday, driving o a service, sitting through it and then going home again. If you believe in what's going on there, wouldn't you jump at the opportunity to help make it happen?

It's logical to sit for a while and get your bearings. Kick the tires and see if this is the place for you.

There are also some people who have been either burned or totally fried by a previous church experience and in these cases it's good to take time to heal and learn to trust again.

But once you've got a grasp of where a church is going and/or have dared to trust again, the question is not whether you're going to keep coming here at weekends? It's, am I going to get on board with the vision?

Here's a great quote from Reggie McNeal in The Present Future -

That's the church's mission: to join God in his redemptive efforts to save the world. People all around us are in darkness. They are going to die unless someone finds a way to save them. Trouble is, the church is sleeping on the job. Too many of us have forgotten why we showed up for work. Even worse, many of us have never known.

I must confess I do make it clear to people why we showed up for work, which probably explains why no one at CATMO is sitting home waiting for the phone to ring.