Open

What would you think if this happened to you?

Here's the story...

There was only one door opened on the double doors leading into the chapel. The two greeters were inside the door greeting people as people entered. I was standing in line waiting to get into the chapel.

I reached out and opened the second door so that people could freely enter.

One of the greeters harshly said, "No! Shut that door"

"What?"

"Shut that door!"

Her comment took my breathe away. Firmly she repeated her order..."shut that door."

I caught my breath just in time to here her rationale. "If we have both doors open we will miss saying hello to everyone."

"It'll be OK, people will find their way in" I said.

What she said next floored me.

"Do you want us to do the job (greeting)?" harshly fell from her lips.

"Yes, but let's open the doors."

It was obvious that if the greeters were to continue to greet, it was going to be on their terms. I entered and found my seat in the chapel.

Then it hit me...since when do we fail to open all of the doors so that people can freely enter?

Wafting across decades came the little jingle that I sang in Sunday School.

"here is the church

here is the steeple

open the doors

and see all the people."

The church where I attend is growing to the point where we need all of our doors open to let people in.

My hope is that the "welcome" people feel is greater inside the community of faith than the one they experience at the door.

What do you think?

This is a true story that happened to me today. I wonder how other people were treated today as they entered the chapel?

Just a thought...

Potholes

Yesterday I hit a pothole large enough to have its own zip code. It was huge.

I continued driving for a little while and pulled into the parking lot of one of my favorite restaurants to meet a friend for lunch. We had a great time.

I got into my car and backed up to leave. "Thwump-thwump..." Yeah, you guessed it. A flat tire and an interruption to my schedule.

Then I heard the words of Henri Nouwen echoing in my brain...

"My whole life I've been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered the interruptions were my work."

I eased the car into a parking lot and got out to inspect the damage. Yep, it was a flat tire. This is well within the range of my expertise, so I went to the trunk and looked for the jack and tire iron.

Slight problem.

There was no tire iron. I am sure that the car came equipped with one, but it was nowhere to be found among the jumper cables, empty Starbuck cups, and straw leftover from last years Harvest Festival.

I got back in the car and called my friends at Triple A. They responded politely and quickly.

The man arrived and was greeted by ice pellets falling from the dark Michigan sky.

He did three things...He smiled, he changed the tire, and he thanked me for the opportunity to come out and be of service. I am sure this is standard Triple A customer service, but it was sure nice to hear.

What happens when you are interrupted? Do you show up and smile? Do you commit an act of kindness? And do you thank people for the opportunity to serve?

I tend to do three things...mutter, grumble and complain.

Interruptions.

"Thwump-thwump"...oh, that's not the sound of the flat tire, that is the sound of me getting it.

Interruptions. They occur at the most inopportune time.

They are my work...how about you?

Just a thought....

Extra

"I just need a few more hours in the day."

"I have a few more things to do but not enough time to get it all done.'

"If I just had another day in the week."

Well.....today is your day. February 29, a Leap Year Day. This is day that only comes every few years. It is a day that doesn't appear on the calendar yearly.

So, it seems like an extra day to me since it doesn't come every year. So let's see....How will I spend it?

It's early. I am sitting in Panera Bread sipping from the free internet and nursing a steaming mug of java.

Here is something that I observe as i sit here. It seems like people who wander into Panera Bread don't have watches on. It seems like they are able to make time bend to accomodate them rather than laboring under the "tyranny of the ought." It's as though they are experiencing life in slow motion.

I have people that I am meeting with today. The best part is that I am going to hear their stories. Eugene Peterson is right...

"We live in narrative, we live in story. Existence has a story shape to it. We have a beginning and an end, we have a plot, we have characters."

It is Friday, February 29th. It is another day to hear the stories of people who are trying to figure out where they fit into life.

I need to "get a move on." Wait a minute....that's the problem.

I need to "be still" and wait for the Story Author.

Gotta run....here comes my "next story." I wonder what has happened in his life since the last time we talked.

I am anxious to lay aside my plot and narrative so that he can have plenty of room to trace the rhythms of God's grace in his life.

When was the last time that you were attentive to His Story?

One of my favorite lines is...Once upon a time....

Gotta walk...life is happening...don't want to miss it.

Just a thought...

Change

Randy Pope is right.

He says it like it is.

Writing in his book entitled, The Prevailing Church, he says…

“The church leadership often hears, “If you change, I will leave.” Unfortunately, few people are speaking up for the lost communities who are thinking, at least subconsciously, “If you don’t change, I won’t come.” p.92.

Who is church for?

Is it for those who have feasted at the table and altar and know with certainty where they will go when they die? Or is it for those who have lost their way and aren’t sure which direction to orient their life toward? Or is it both?

Sadly, to often we are more concerned with keeping saints satisfied rather than attracting “askers” who are longing for something to erase the angst of their life.

To be sure, we are interested in reaching lost people, but often on our terms. We are not sure what to do with people who bring “checked baggage” into our churches.

We are a lot like the flight attendants who smilingly tell us “please stow all of your belongings into the overhead compartment or underneath the seat in front of you.”

The people I am meeting are looking for a place where they can unpack their baggage and find a safe place to tell their story.

In northern Spain, there is a way known as El Camino de Santiago. Along that pathway there is an albergue, or pilgrim’s hostel. On a sign at its entrance are these words.

"open to all, well and ill, not only to Catholics, but to pagans, Jews, and heretics, the idler and the vagabond and, to put it shortly, the good and the wicked.”

I guess I want to welcome people in the same way that He welcomed me when I came home.

Just a thought….

Soweth

Here's a quick word etymology lesson for those of you who are keeping score at home.

Sow-eth, the archaic third-person singular present tense suffix. In other words it is the act of sowing, distributing or sowing.

But I can't help stumble over the KJV rendition of this word. Soweth.

There are sixteen times when soweth is used in the Scriptures. There are all kinds of places that it creeps up in the story of scripture.

There is the Proverbs moment where a warning is given to, "he that soweth discord among the brethren." 6:19. Hmm....scattering conflict among the brethren is a pretty serious problem.

There is the Pauline use in Galatians, "For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." 6:8. This is a modern expression of what it means to be on an ego trip.

Here's one last one..."Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Galatians 6:8

That's a lot of "soweths."

I wonder if I stumble over the archaic use of that word and forget to sow. Quite frankly, I don't read from the King James because of the "-eths, doths, and shalts."

It trips me up. Nobody I know talks like that except for a few people that prayed out loud on Wednesday evening when I was growing up.

I wonder how many things we stumble over. I wonder how many words are in the Scripture that trip us and we fail to do what they say.

Ancient statues often contain petroglyphs using ancient words, things like "whatsoever a man soweth..." It would be easy to walk past, admire the beauty of the carvings, and go on about our way.

It is quite another to stop, look at the words and let them be carved into our hearts of stone.

I want to be a person that "soweth." I want to "sow."

So what? you say.

I want to "sow" the seed that God has given me. I want to "sow" stories into the hearts of waiting people.

"Soweth"...yes, its an old word form, but the concept is fresh and needed in a world of hearts that are often closed to the Greatest Story.

How are you doing in the "soweth" department?

Just a thought.....

Welcome

Welcome. What an interesting word. It seems like a word that should mean"come on in."

It's the kind of word that you see on signs advertising restaurants along the expressway.


You see it on mats at doorway entries.


It is even seen above building doorways.


We say it to people throughout the day.


But do we really mean it?


The church I attend wants people to feel welcome. We do all kinds of things to ensure that people who visit become part of the family. Some of the things that we do are subtle and others are overt. The goal is to make people feel welcome.


Here's what I am wondering. Is it possible to hang a sign over the door of our church and then build a fence that people have to pass through to experience our welcome?


Many churches adopt a model that says, "we want you to behave like us...believe like us and then you belong. A fence is erected. The welcome sign is out, but there are some rules.


The church I attend has adopted a model that looks like this. "We want you to belong...we want you to believe, then we think you will behave like a kingdom person." The welcome sign is out.


I think all churches want people to feel welcome. But there are fences that must be passed through before a person is welcome.


There are a lot of people that I meet daily who aren't a part of the church today because the fences and barriers were larger than the church's welcome.


I am just wondering to do we spend more time on "welcome" or "fences?"


Just a thought....

Giants

Walking into the lecture hall was intimidating. The smell of the room was nothing like the smell of my first grade classroom. But there was still an aroma in the lecture hall.

Sitting in the fifth row seemed like an adequate distance from the professor.

From his opening words until he closed the lecture, time seemed to stand still. A smooth southern accent massaged the ears of those attending his lectures.

He said things like, "Take out your notebooks and lets begin class." "See you on church on Sunday." And" gentleman the test will be on Thursday at 9:20 AM."

Thursday came.

Then he prayed a prayer like this. "Dear God, we pray that you will help those who have studied and remind those who didnt study that they are on their own. Amen." I have been on both sides of those prayers.

He was a giant. He was a saint. He loved God and made me want to love God.

I learned several things from this giant.

I developed an insatiable appetite for the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts

I learned that stories open people's hearts to The Story.

I learned that writing and storytelling are noble tasks.

This giant? Dr. William McCumber

I am not sure where he is today, but I know that some of what he tried to communicate in that aromatic lecture hall has taken up residence in my soul.

May I be a steward of the gifts that he gave me and may I be a steward of the gifts that He has given me. Both are important.

Just a thought.