Pastor Paul
When I was interim pastor in Westport at the Saugatuck Congregational Church they had a summer tradition of moving their 8:30 am chapel service to the beach where they held a service in cooperation with another UCC church and the United Methodist Church. While I loved it because we rotated preaching responsibilities I was not a fan. I am not a beach person, didn’t appreciate the sand, having to have two sets of clothes (one beach suitable and one for the 10:00 am service in the air conditioned sanctuary), competing with the sound of boats, gulls, picnickers (in a place where to be heard already required a LOUD voice) and the beating sun causing salty sweat to roll into my eyes. Did I mention I was not a fan? My co-pastor colleague was attempting to get our involvement to cease. He argued that we had air conditioning and it was far more comfortable to worship in the church. I agreed largely because the folk who attended at 10:00 am were like me not fans of heat, sweat or sand, had mobility or hearing issues and, like me, find the place of worship is important to our sense of sacredness. I love churchy places. I have rarely found outdoors worship – no matter the specifics -- to support worship, lovely and interesting though they may be. But for the two summers that I was in Westport I did those services and then happily rushed to the church for my “real” worship.
I happened to mention my feelings regarding the beach services to a member of the church who was a regular attender and donor of a sound system because he found hearing a challenge at the beach without it. He was a bit taken aback by my lack of enthusiasm for something he found so wonderful. Why did I do them if I disliked them so much? And therein is my point.
I did those services week after week not because I liked them or because when I wasn’t preaching I didn’t wish I was anywhere else. Week after week I did them because he and others did love them and to be supportive of them. I did them because there are times in life when it is right and good to do something not because I want/need/like to do it but because it’s important and meaningful for someone else who is important to me. Although I get a much fuller sense of God in a “church building” than on the beach doesn’t absolve me of the demand to be gracious out of love. Just because music doesn’t always “do it for me” doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it for the fact that people I love, are moved by it.
It seems that our society is moving away from the altruism that is required for communal and faithful living. So much seems about me and what I want. Jesus is always challenging us to love God and self and neighbor equally. In Mathew he instructs that if a neighbor demands your coat, give him your shirt also. That is a requirement of our faith to value the needs and sensibilities of others as highly as our own. It’s an embodiment of the traffic stalemate that often happens when I reach an intersection at the same time as another driver and we both indicate to the other that they should proceed. I always chuckle to myself when that happens, respecting another and having it returned and I wonder why all of life can’t be like that?
We should insist as Jesus does.
I happened to mention my feelings regarding the beach services to a member of the church who was a regular attender and donor of a sound system because he found hearing a challenge at the beach without it. He was a bit taken aback by my lack of enthusiasm for something he found so wonderful. Why did I do them if I disliked them so much? And therein is my point.
I did those services week after week not because I liked them or because when I wasn’t preaching I didn’t wish I was anywhere else. Week after week I did them because he and others did love them and to be supportive of them. I did them because there are times in life when it is right and good to do something not because I want/need/like to do it but because it’s important and meaningful for someone else who is important to me. Although I get a much fuller sense of God in a “church building” than on the beach doesn’t absolve me of the demand to be gracious out of love. Just because music doesn’t always “do it for me” doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it for the fact that people I love, are moved by it.
It seems that our society is moving away from the altruism that is required for communal and faithful living. So much seems about me and what I want. Jesus is always challenging us to love God and self and neighbor equally. In Mathew he instructs that if a neighbor demands your coat, give him your shirt also. That is a requirement of our faith to value the needs and sensibilities of others as highly as our own. It’s an embodiment of the traffic stalemate that often happens when I reach an intersection at the same time as another driver and we both indicate to the other that they should proceed. I always chuckle to myself when that happens, respecting another and having it returned and I wonder why all of life can’t be like that?
We should insist as Jesus does.