January 28th, 2008
Churches and other places of worship are accustomed to expect that during an election year some candidates for public office will make visits. Religion is important to many in this country and so it is understandable that public servants want to participate in the lives of their constituents. Scripture teaches us the importance of welcoming all (Leviticus 19:34). In the rule of St. Benedict it is written: Let all guests that come be received like Christ. Over the years I have observed that some candidates and elected public servants are confused about their role as a guest in church. Therefore it seems prudent to offer the following guidance for those who come to be with us in worship. First, it is important to remember that all guests who come are equally important in the house of God. We do not introduce those who are visitors because we do not wish to make them feel like a spectacle. Therefore please understand that neither will we introduce a candidate or public servant should they happen to visit one Sunday. Secondly, it is important for all – guests and members alike – that when we enter public worship we release our own agendas so that we may better listen to God’s directive. While worship includes fellowship, worship is not a time to greet constituents or otherwise unduly draw attention to one’s self. It is time to focus on God. Thirdly, the body of Christ in a local congregation is diverse – racially, economically and politically. We believe such diversity deepens our community and demonstrates a hopeful model for the nation. We ask that no one impede or in any way diminish diversity through politically exclusive speech while participating in church functions. Therefore to ask for votes or financial support is not only inappropriate, it is an affront to the mission and purpose of our church. Finally, all are welcome at First Baptist Church. When one enters the House of God one does not come as a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or any other political name. One comes as a child, beautifully created in God’s image. We are grateful to all who feel called to serve the public locally as well as nationally. We continue to pray for our public servants that God may direct their lives and their actions to accomplish God’s higher purpose. When you visit us remember that you are welcome here alongside all other sinners seeking to be saints. Thank you for respecting our worship through seeking not your agenda, but God’s.
Greg
January 22nd, 2008
Last Sunday evening we enjoyed some “home cooking” – tamales! Of course growing up I did not know how to spell tamale much less cook them. Yet this past weekend I sat with my family and enjoyed a “mess” of tamales prepared by a sweet couple who work on my father’s dairy. They are both from Mexico and speak very little English, but they work hard and cook even better.
The occasion for the tamales was my daddy’s birthday. This couple wanted to do something nice for him and so they prepared a homemade Mexican meal for not only my dad, but all of us. I even went back to Augusta with leftovers, which is unusual when all the DeLoaches gather together to eat! All of the cooking took place in my grandmother’s house, which is where they now live.
After my grandmother died a few years ago I worried about her old house. This house contained so many memories, most of them in the kitchen. It is where we rested, where we talked, where we ate and where we knew we could go no matter how far we had strayed. I could hardly stand the thought of the house empty and silent. Now the house is full again with two lives who want to do much the same as we did years ago. The smells of my grandmother’s kitchen use to be of fried chicken and biscuits, but now they have been replaced by tamales, corn and peppers. Either way my grandmother’s house is still a home.
Homes nourish. They feed the body with nutrients; the heart with memory; and the soul with love. Do you have a place that is home to you? Houses come and go but I am convinced that homes have a certain enduring quality that pass from one generation to the next.
When I think of what church ought to be and can be I think of the image of home. Guests, strangers, and familiar faces alike gather bearing gifts, love, and service and it is through the sharing that we find authentic nourishment. Maybe that is why when Jesus fed the five thousand he first looked to the disciples and said, “You give them something to eat.” (Matthew 14:16). Church is when we give of ourselves to others that they might be fed. Church is also where we too come and pull a chair around the table and fill ourselves with a taste of home.
May all who come here be nourished.
Greg
January 17th, 2008
It is a bit too cold right now to be thinking of camping, but I am anyway. The clear nights make for the perfect viewing of a sky full of stars. Throw in a campfire, chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows for s’mores and we are good to go.
We have enjoyed camping all through our marriage. During our first year of marriage Amy and I drove out to Yellowstone to rough it for a couple of weeks. We packed a pup tent, a pound of bacon, a change of shorts and tee-shirts. After one week, however, we headed home because we nearly froze to death in the middle of June! I had no idea that it could possibly be cold anywhere in the United States during the month of June.
What makes camping so fun is that you are mobile. All you need is a tent (and you don’t really need that) and a good map (which I usually ignore – it’s a man thing). Most everything else you need to enjoy a few days in the woods should fit right on your back. Mobility and flexibility is the key to happy camping.
Not a bad metaphor for the faith. A faith on the move…going places. It is too bad so many are content with just staying put in their relationship with God. Never changing, never growing, never blossoming into anything more. Like water, such a faith is in mortal danger of stagnation. Water that is not allowed a place to flow becomes putrid and useless. That is why you hear me speak so often of our faith as a journey, or pilgrimage. As the people of God we lean across the next horizon for the opportunity, the next possibility.
Let’s break camp and move on – a church on the go, a people on the move and God who is out there in front.
Grace and Peace,
Greg
I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. (NRSV Isaiah 43:19)