Hello,
Last Monday I loaded my lawnmower up into my pickup for its
winter tune up. It is getting
older, and as I have discovered with my aging body, without tune ups things
just don’t work as well as they did when younger….even with tune ups they
don’t, but at least they work.
So after lunch, my lawnmower and I set off for Doug’s. Doug is one of the employees at the
yard tool store. There are
other employees there, but Doug sold us our chain saw, and so we got to know
him. Believe me, Doug knows his chain
saws, and with a little chew in his mouth he will tell you everything you don’t
need to know about them along with the serial numbers of the various parts that
make them up. I trust Doug, not
just with my chain saw, but with my lawnmower, too.
Doug’s place is about a town and a half away from my home, a
15 minute drive up and down the hills.
As I neared it, I noticed that it was missing the normal assorted variety, age and repair of pickups that
normally take their place in the parking lot. Mmmm, I wondered.
Could it be that I caught Doug at a break in the flurry of business that
normally buzzes at his store?
Well, I was wrong.
I had not caught him between business rushes. Instead, as I neared the glass door that seemed far darker
than usual, I noticed a single sheet of white paper taped to the door, and on
it with uncommon technological fare was printed from a computer, “Store closed
November 30th. Hunting
season.”
A reminder of where I live; out in the country.
I’ve always known that hunting is big here….big enough to
close schools…but I didn’t know that it was big enough to close
businesses. True enough, deer
hunting season started last Monday, and had I not discovered it by my trip to
Doug’s, I would have soon realized it by the constant sound of guns firing in
the distance (and sometimes not so distant).
I remember when I was a kid growing up in suburban Chicago,
there was a distant sound that likewise gave clue to businesses being closed:
the sound of church bells. In my
town, lots of people followed those church bells to places of worship, and
businesses followed suit by closing on Sunday morning, partly because lots of
people were in church, but also partly because Sunday, like hunting season
around here, was a holy-day (holiday).
Now, Sunday is the biggest business day of the week for lots
of stores, and youth activities have inundated both days of the weekend. Some complain and remember those “good
old days” when churches didn’t have so much competition, and people flocked to
church.
I, however, don’t find myself complaining about the
“competition”, mostly because I don’t see it as “competition”. I would not see an invite to
spend an hour with the President of the United States to be in competition with
a trip to the mall or even taking part in a ping pong tournament. So, neither do I see an invite from God
to spend an hour with him to be in competition with any other inviting voice.
So, one might ask, why isn’t everyone in church on Sunday
morning? Well, I have to say that
I don’t know….but I have a theory….and this is it: people don’t hear God’s
invitation. I think that lots of
people hear a moral judgment saying that you should go to church. I think that lots of people hear an
institution that is trying to survive say they need more people to fill the
pews to meet a budget. I think
that lots of people hear a self-righteous distortion saying that if you have a
lot of doubts or a confused life church isn’t for you.
What I don’t think a lot of people hear is an invitation
from God Almighty, the one who has loved the invitee with the life of Jesus,
his Son, saying, “Come to church and lets spend some time together getting to
know each other and sharing life.”
Maybe I am wrong, but I know for myself, I find that to be
an irresistible invitation, an invitation for which I find myself, like Doug in
hunting season, turning off all the lights, locking my doors, and ready to post a
sign for anyone who would wander to my home, “Closed, Sunday. At church.”
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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