Hello,
The Greensburg Holliday Parade
rolled past our church on Saturday.
As always, it was led by the local color guard slicing the air with the
red, white and blue hoisted high.
Behind them came the Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department stepping out
in their cream colored parade uniforms.
Intermingled there after were several bands, old cars, Boy Scouts and
Girl Scouts, fire engines, local business floats, alpacas, and
politicians. A mandatory entrance
fee for parade participants must have been several bags of candy which were to
be thrown to the children who lined the route as if they were hunting dogs at
point. At the end of the 2 ½ hour
parade , Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus rode into town in a hay wagon pulled by draft
horses.
It was a beautiful day for the
parade: sunny and in the 50’s. The
weather on the last several years was not as welcoming, thus the reason for the
thin crowd for those parades..
This year’s crowd , however, filled the sidewalks and edged into the
streets.
As the crowd began to gather, I
became worried.
As a sign of the Grace of God, we
have, the past few years, given out hot dogs and hot chocolate during parade
time: free. No cost to any one,
after all, that is what the Grace of
God is all about: no cost to anyone
(except Jesus, that is). My
worries, you see, came about as I saw the crowd balloon and our supply of hot
dogs remain stable. Three hundred
and fifty hot dogs was what we bought, and that was all that we had. The flyers that we passed out to the
parade goers were drawing in a steady stream of hot dog hunters.
I had stationed myself in front of
the church, clerically clad for recognition, greeting people as they walked by
and welcoming them to their free hot dogs. As the parade went on, I was glad to see that people were
exiting the church with sour kraut laden hot dogs. As the parade neared its second hour, I, who had not eaten
but a piece of toast for breakfast felt the urge for a hot dog……too late. They had just run out. I suppose we could have given more
away, but 350 was just about the right number.
Even though I didn’t get my hot
dog, I did get something. I found
out that many people would not take our hot dogs for free. They “demanded” we take their money. So, a plate was put out with no
instructions, and when the parade was over the count was $120.00…..which I will
suggest will go to our effort to send 231 (that’s how old our church is) school
bags to needy students around the world.
As I consider the $120.00 that was
given for our free hot dogs, it seems to me that it might be thought of in a
couple of ways. One way to look at
that $120.00 is to say that bears out the fact that grace is rather hard to
receive. Even as we stand before
God, there’s a tendency for us to think we have to do something to receive
God’s grace, and that get’s us in trouble because then we begin to wonder if we
have done enough for the amazing grace that we receive. But on the other hand, maybe that
$120.00 is a sign of thanks, a response to grace. That is what my offering is every Sunday morning, an
offering of thanks that I give with no strings attached on how it is to be
used. So, if those hot dog
recipients were giving their money in thanks, and not in payment …… well then,
that would have been a wonderful thing.
I do know that many of those who
got their free hot dogs were very thankful, because as they passed me with
their hot dogs in their hands many said, “This was awful nice of you.”
“Glad we could do it,” I would say
back.
And to those who said nothing to
me as they carried their hotdogs parade-side, I said grace-fully, “Have a great
day!”
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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