CHRIST IN WINTER:
Reflections on Faith for the Years of Winter
A family bought an old
house. They found that it had “settled” a bit, as old things do, and was a
little out of line, as old things get. That meant the front door stuck. The only
way they could get it open was to pry it with the blade of a hatchet. So they
just used the door that was to the side and out of sight.
New to the town, they went
to church the first Sunday. The pastor, true to his vocation, went to call on
them. He knocked at the logical door, the one in front, and heard someone
inside yell, “It’s the preacher. Get the hatchet.”
We had a big celebration
in church this yesterday. Our evening custodian, Jeff, and his wife, Carla,
were approved for a Habitat home several months ago. They are raising two
granddaughters, and have been for 3 years. Got them when one was four years old
and the other just 5 months. Now the house is finished and almost ready to move
in. We had a housewarming for them after church, with gifts and gift cards, for
places where they can get things to use in their new home, and lots of money to
get air-conditioning installed. You end up with “lots” of money when many
people each gives a little.
The house was built in ten
days, on a flat-bed, in the parking lot of the Indiana University football
stadium, so IU students could work on it. Over 400 did so. And Jeff and Carla
put in 500 hours of owner equity, too. Church people and community people
worked on it, also. When it was finished, they just hooked up a semi-tractor to
the flat bed and pulled it to the lot where they will live. [1]
We saw a lot of pictures
of the process of construction. I loved the one that showed about 30 people of
all ages and sizes pushing together to raise a long side wall up into place.
Our church has a big
building, including a pre-school, so we have 3 custodians. Jeff’s role in the
evening is important, because St. Mark’s lets any non-profit use our building
free. It’s part of our ministry. Scouts, AA, etc. take advantage of that
policy. In fact, we host over 40 such groups.
In worship before the
housewarming, Mary Beth Morgan [2] preached on the story of Zacchaeus and
Jesus, in which Jesus said to the wee little man, [as he has been celebrated in
Sunday school songs for years] “I’m coming to your house today.” How do we
respond when someone says that to us? Somebody like… Jesus?
Helen and I live in a
signed community. That’s the poor people’s version of a gated community. We have
signs that say, “No Soliciting.” That’s okay, I think. But I grew up in a
county that once had “No Niggers” [3] signs at its borders. What about signs,
physical or otherwise, that say: No Gays, No Refugees, No Mexicans, No Muslims,
No Homeless?
I spent the whole
house-warming lunch yesterday playing with 10 month old Cayenne, who always
giggles at me like I’m the best thing since strained peas. Please don’t ever
make me live in one of those places for old people that has a “No Children”
sign.
Jeff & Carla’s little
granddaughters wanted a reading nook in their new home, so our Sunday School
kids made book boxes, full of books, for them. They squealed with delight. As
we left, they had taken their books to Ellie O’Connor, a little old lady who
moved here from Virginia a couple of years ago to be near her daughter, and she
was reading to them. It was a sweet moment that caught the best of what a
church, and the world, can be.
Yes, get the damned
hatchet. Use it to pry the door open.
JRMcF
1]Normally they could have
just lived in the stadium parking lot since nobody goes to the games, but IU
football is getting better, and when we beat Michigan in a couple of weeks…
2] Helen says I can no
longer refer to Mary Beth as “the best preacher at St. Mark’s” because Jimmy
Moore, her husband and our other preacher, might get his feelings hurt. Sheesh!
3] I know that is a word
we don’t use, except some did and do, and if we don’t face reality, “warts and
all,” we enable those who want to warp the perception of reality so that we don’t
have to change it.
BTW, Happy All Saints. “For
all the saints, who from their labors rest…”
The
problem with writing a blog for old people is an ever-diminishing population,
of people who cannot remember to go to the blog site.
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