In the church
office this week, we had gremlins. Or maybe early Halloween pranksters are using
computers. On the front cover of this morning’s bulletin, the scripture
citation is Jeremiah 29:11. The actual verse is Jeremiah 29:7, and the entire reading
is correct in the bulletin as Jeremiah 29 verse 1 and 4 through 7.
When I proofread the bulletin the
first time, I noticed my finger had slipped with the verse citation on the cover.
I corrected it and saved the file. I forwarded the bulletin to our
administrative assistant. She noticed the citation on the cover was still wrong.
She corrected it, saved her copy of the file, and sent the bulletin to the
printer. When she pulled the printed bulletins off the copier, the cover still
said Jeremiah 29:11. This was after she and I both corrected it and both saved
our corrected files. Between us, even though we both hit save on our computers,
the computer didn’t save.
What it
reminded me of was a story I heard a long time ago. Jesus and the devil were
bored. Jesus was bored because people in heaven were so good there was nothing
for him to do there and his Mother Mary was hogging all the appearances on
earth. The devil was bored because everyone in Hell was so evil already he had
no one left to tempt. The devil decided to challenge Jesus to a contest to
create the best computer program. God was the rule keeper and the Holy Spirit
was the timekeeper. Jesus and the devil fired up their laptops and went at it.
Furiously typing away, a millennium or two went by and then the Holy Spirit
called, “Time!” Jesus breathed a sigh of relief and sat back looking satisfied.
The devil banged his hand down on his laptop and yelled an unprintable word. The
devil had lost all his data because he forgot to save his work. At which point,
Jesus said softly, “My friend, don’t you know only Jesus can save?”
Now what, you
may be asking, does this have to do with Jeremiah? There are a lot of people
out there, beyond these doors, that need saving. Some of them need saving from
drugs or alcohol or other addictions, some need saving from empty lives, some
need saving from sorrow, and others need saving from simple lack of joy because
of empty lives. Some need saving because they are exiles.
We need saving here
too. We’re worried about our survival in the same way the Israelites were
worried about surviving in exile. Jeremiah, though, was worried that people
would fail to thrive if they kept looking back instead of looking forward into
the future, even though they were in exile, thinking things would change.
We are exiles too because we live in a society
with a multiplicity of people and faiths. And here we are in exile, looking
back, and waiting for things to change.
Jeremiah’s people didn’t want to be
part of the community in exile because they were afraid of being changed by it.
They wanted to go back to their homeland; to the way things were.
Yet Jeremiah
wasn’t having any of it. He told the people never mind that you’re in exile. He
told them God said, “…seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into
exile, and pray to the Lord in its behalf, for in its welfare you will find
your welfare,”[1]
Like Jeremiah’s
people, it’s easier for us think about the way it was. It’s easier to sit
inside and talk about what we might do to get more people inside. But, what if
we went outside to get them inside?
What would happen
if we went outside? What would we do? What would it be like?
· One thing we already do outside is Mobile Meals. An elderly
recipient of Mobile Meals said to me, “I love it that you church people get
outside to do things. Sometimes you’re the only people I see all week. Thank
you for getting out.”
· With Care Share, we can do the things we did with
Angel Tree, and we have more
opportunities for getting outside because we can help our Care Share families
throughout the year.
What else might getting outside be like?
· What if next year we partnered with a veterinary
clinic or pet store and went there to
bless the animals?
· What if we offered to host a picnic for our
subdivision neighbors on their
property?
· What if we continued to cooperate with the Boy Scouts and
moved our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper to a public place?
· What if we asked a quilt or fabric store if they would
host Pillowcase Day in their shop and invite their shoppers to join us?
Those are just a few things
we could do to get outside the church instead of waiting and hoping people will
find us.
What can you think of that you’d love the church to go outside and do? And
what would you personally be willing to do to make it happen?
· Take a minute and think about something we’ve never
done before that you personally would love. Something that would get us outside
the church in another location.
Got it? Okay. Let’s write down
those ideas.
· We put those pens at the end of each pew for a reason.
Grab a pen and write your idea on the back of your bulletin
· Write your name.
· Write what part of getting outside you’d most want to
do to make your idea a success. If you can’t get outside because of your
physical condition, write down what you could do inside that would help us take
what you’d love to do outside.
(Long pause for everyone to
write.)
At the end of the service, as you go
for your cup of coffee or leave for home or brunch, please hand me your
bulletin with your idea. Be sure you’ve written what you would like us to do to
get outside the church, and your name and what part of getting outside you
personally would love to do most. The Vestry and I will be inspired by your
ideas as we plan next year.
This is what Jeremiah had in mind. He
wanted the Israelites to help the community they lived in thrive, even though
they were in exile. If you look at active and growing churches, you will see
churches that do far less for their own survival and far more for the survival
of their community. Go outside and help the community thrive and the church
will thrive. When the church gets outside, people start coming inside. AMEN.
The Rev Nicolette
Papanek
©2016
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