Congregate!

 “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” (Psalm 122:1)

In our walks along the swamps and wetlands of the Lowcountry of South Carolina, it is not at all uncommon for us to happen upon turtles warming in the sun. They will gather on the shoreline or on any rock or log jutting out of the water that will hold them. It is not uncommon to see large groups of turtles congregating on a single log. Sometimes there are so many on a relatively small log or rock, it reminds me of those challenges to see how many people can fit into a phone booth or a VW Beetle. Wherever there is a place for them to catch some rays, you will likely find them. 

They’re even willing to share their warming pad with ‘gators. 

Seeing how the turtles love to hang out together always makes me think of the church. Church isn’t simply a place to hear beautiful music or inspirational teaching and preaching. It is those things, but it is so much more. Church is the fellowship of people who love Jesus, hanging out together. Church is the people of God coming together to encourage one another, to spur each other on to faithful discipleship.

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another…” (Hebrews 10:25)

You see, people aren’t really meant to go it alone. We’re meant to be together. Being together makes us more whole than when we’re not together.

Even before the pandemic, American Christians were in a downward trend in church attendance. Now, that trend has only grown steeper. 

It shouldn’t be that way. We are meant to be together. We are better, stronger, more healthy when we are together.

In his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul describes the church as the body of Christ, with each member a different part of the body. Just as a body is less complete without a thumb, or an ear, or even a pinky toe, so is the body of Christ less complete without you. When one part of the body is missing, the whole body suffers – that applies to the human body, as well as the body of Christ.

Don’t go it alone. You need the church. You need friends in Christ with whom you can hang out and work through the highs and lows of life.

You need the church. And the church needs you.

I Went to Church, But It Wasn't the Same

How lovely is your dwelling place, 

     Lord Almighty! 

My soul yearns, even faints, 

     for the courts of the Lord; 

my heart and my flesh cry out 

     for the living God.

Even the sparrow has found a home, 

    and the swallow a nest for herself, 

where she may have her young

     a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, 

     my King and my God. 

Blessed are those who dwell in your house; 

     they are ever praising you.

(Psalm 84:1-4)

I went to church, O Lord.

But it wasn’t the same.

The pews were empty, 

the sanctuary an echo chamber.

I know, we’re supposed to be 

  sequestered

    quarantined

      socially distant.

It’s for our good, for the health of your people.

It is right for us to stay away from each other.

It’s right, 

but it certainly doesn’t feel right.

We need each other, O God.

Your people – your church – we need each other.

Nevertheless, I went to church,

and I prayed,

and I sang,

and I preached. 

But it wasn’t the same.

I miss your people, O God.

I miss my people, my flock.

I know, the sanctuary isn’t my church.

But it becomes my church

when your people gather together

  to worship

    to pray

      to to sing

        to break bread

          to love one another.

My soul yearns, even faints,

     for the courts of the Lord.

Because it’s in the courts of the Lord

where I experience church

with my people, my flock.

I cherish my people enough

to make them stay away

until this virus passes.

But I miss their fellowship,

their friendship,

their encouragement,

their presence.

Blest be the tie that binds

our hearts in Christian love

the fellowship of kindred minds

is like to that above.

Hasten the day, O Lord,

when your people can gather together

once again

  to worship

    to sing

      to pray

        to break bread

          to love one another.

While we are absent 

one from another, O Lord,

please come to us,

abide with us,

fill us with your presence.

If we cannot dwell together

in your house,

please come into our hearts

and dwell with us.

I am confident of this, precious Lord:

I will rejoice in the day

when I can gather with your people – 

with my people, my flock – 

  and worship

    and pray

      and sing

        and break bread

          and love one another.

Blessed are those who dwell

in your house, O Lord.

Amen.

During the season of Lent, I am "Praying with David," using prayers from the psalms as inspiration for personal prayer.

Praying the Passion, Part 3 - "Dear Woman, Here Is Your Son"

When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother."- John 19:26-27

My Lenten discipline has been to write a prayer for each of the 40 days of Lent. The last seven prayers center on the seven last sayings of Jesus uttered from the cross. Today's prayer is based on the third saying.

"Dear Woman, Here Is Your Son"

From the foot of the cross I behold you, Lord.
And I hear you. I hear every word you say.

As you speak words of tenderness to your mother,
  and to the disciple you love,
I am amazed.
I am amazed that in the midst of unthinkable agony,
  you are more concerned for others than yourself.
It is not your pain that you seek to relieve,
  but the pain of your mother and your friend.
Even in your own suffering,
  you are mindful of the suffering of the world.
I am deeply humbled by the knowledge of your compassion.

"Dear woman, here is your son."

"Here is your mother."

In these words, you have given us something special;
  you have given us each other.
All who gather at the cross -- 
  we are not orphaned by your death;
  we become family. 

And now I realize that forgiveness of sin
  isn't the only gift of the cross,
  for at your death you also created the church.

"Dear woman, here is your son."

"Here is your mother."

In the sanctuary, when I gaze upon the cross,
  and then when I look at all who gather with me,
I realize what you have done for us:
  these are my brothers and sisters;
  these are my mothers and fathers;
  these are my sons and daughters;
  these are my family.

We are not orphaned by your death.
We are not left alone.

Thank you, Lord, for your amazing love.

Appreciating Family

“Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram...”Matthew 1:2-3, KJV

I never got into the genealogies in the Bible very much. They are always long and confusing, and the names are usually strange and difficult to pronounce. For example, won't you try to keep track of who's who as the descendants of Joseph are described in the book of Numbers:

“The descendants of Joseph by their clans through Manasseh and Ephraim were:

The descendants of Manasseh: through Makir, the Makirite clan (Makir was the father of Gilead); through Gilead, the Gileadite clan. These were the descendants of Gilead: through Iezer, the Iezerite clan; through Helek, the Helekite clan; through Asriel, the Asrielite clan; through Shechem, the Shechemite clan; through Shemida, the Shemidaite clan; through Hepher, the Hepherite clan. (Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons; he had only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkay, and Tirzah.) These were the clans of Manasseh; those numbered were 52,700.

These were the descendants of Ephraim by their clans: Through Shuthelah, the Shuthelahite clan; through Beker, the Bekerite clan; through Tahan, the Tahanite clan. These were the descendants of Shuthelah: Through Eran, the Eranite clan. These were the clans of Ephraim; those numbered were 32,500. These were the descendants of Joseph by their clans.

So, here's my question: How are the descendants of Shuthelah related to the descendants of Hepher?

You see what I mean? It's just confusing, trying to put the pieces together and keeping track of who's who.

But recently I gained a new appreciation for those who persist in genealogy. I attended a family reunion of cousins on my father's mother's side of the family—the descendants of Roscoe Benjamin Hughes.

Most of my grandmother's siblings and their offspring ended up in the upper midwest or the western states; my father married a Texan, so naturally he ended up in Texas. As a consequence, my siblings and I never really got to meet the Hughes side of the family. Even my dad hadn't seen most of the relatives from that branch of the family in over 30 years.

The reunion took place in Lincoln, Nebraska, home to one of my father's cousins. Because of the distance, and other time commitments, Carol and I had initially decided not to attend the reunion. But at the last minute we decided to make the trip.

I'm glad we did. Very glad.

We discovered that I have some pretty awesome cousins. Second cousins, first-cousins-twice-removed, whatever – they are family, and it was great to get to know them. We started the weekend as strangers, but that didn't last long. There was immediately a sense of warmth between us as we visited. Of course, we ate a lot of meals together (Thanks, Ellen and Lynn, for making your kitchen our central gathering place!), and it was around the table that we were able to converse and get to know one another.

We spanned the spectrum in terms of vocation and life experience. And yet, I didn't feel like our differences set us apart from one another so much as they enriched and enlarged our identity as a family.

Fun fact: in the four generations including my great-grandfather Roscoe, we have five ordained ministers (six, if you include the fact that my daughter is a youth minister and will surely one day be ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament).

I now know that my family also includes a firefighter, a financial advisor, a teacher, an IT manager, a store manager, a hospital attendant; a retired aerospace engineer, and a retired artist for the Walt Disney company. I know that there are other vocations that I haven't mentioned because, frankly, our focus wasn't on what we do for a living, but on who we are.

Carol and I came away from the experience with a great appreciation for our family. And an awareness that our family is much larger than we had previously considered.

My parents (center), with my "new" cousins:
Carol and Leon Hughes (left)
Lynn and Ellen Davis (right)

If I'm honest with myself, I will admit that I treat family differently from others. Family is special. I tend to be more patient with family; I tend to be more compassionate with family; I tend to think more often about family than others; I tend to take more time to listen to family.

Family is special.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul was writing to a church where some people treated others differently because of their background. Even though all were Christians, some were from a Jewish heritage, while others were Gentiles. Those of Jewish heritage claimed a special status because of their ancestral ties to Abraham, something the Gentiles lacked.

Paul noted that that which ties us to Abraham (and the blessing promised to Abraham by God) is not bloodline, but faith. “Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:7) But that's not even the half of it, because Paul goes so far as to say, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith... There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26, 28)

"So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith..."

You know what that means? It means we're family. We, as in you and I, and all the others who are reading this post. And remember what I said about family? Family is special.

So maybe next time you think about church, look at it as a big family reunion. Get to know your brothers and sisters, your cousins, and uncles and aunts, and all your distant relatives in the faith. Get to know them, and appreciate them for who they are, and for what they mean to us all. You don't need to get hung up with all the ins and outs of the genealogy; who begat whom isn't as important as knowing that in Christ we are family. We belong to one another.

Til next time, cuz!

Closing the doors

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

- Ecclesiastes 3:1

Death is one of those things that, by virtue of my vocation, I encounter on a fairly regular basis. Of course, it is inevitable for us all; but not everybody faces the death of others intentionally. Sometimes death comes suddenly and unexpectedly. Sometimes death comes tragically early in life. Sometimes death comes in very peacefully after a long and fulfilling life. No matter how death comes, I always feel a sense that I am not completely prepared. Maybe that's because everybody encounters death differently.

So, I do the best I can. I hope that when I accompany someone through that “valley of the shadow of death” – whether it is the person who is dying, or family members and friends – I can offer something of the grace and peace of God.

Recently, I experienced a first in my 23+ years of ordained ministry in regard to death. I participated in a worship service to close the doors of a church. 

I officiated the funeral of a church.

It was a small congregation of about 20 members on the rolls, in a small rural community. The young people of the community had mostly left in order to pursue jobs and opportunities in other cities and towns. Realistically there was no potential for growth, and most of the current members were pushing 80 or older.

It wasn't that the church hadn't tried. It was simply a case of a season coming to an end.

The author of Ecclesiastes is right. 

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born, and a time to die...A time to weep, and a time to laugh...A time to mourn, and a time to dance...A time to seek, and a time to lose...A time to hold on, and a time to let go...

And so at the closing service we reflected on the seasons that God gives to us. We gave thanks for the faithful witness that every generation of that church had given to the community. We thanked God for the way God used the ministry of that congregation to influence the community with the grace and love of Jesus Christ. We expressed our gratitude for the harvest of faith that grew through the common life of the people as they gathered together through the generations for worship and study and fellowship.

We shared communion one last time, affirming our hope in Christ, and our common bond to one another. Our union with one another and with Christ did not end when the doors were closed for the last time—nothing can ever take that away from us.

Whenever I officiate a funeral or memorial service, I do more than thank God for the life of the one we are remembering. The most important thing I can do at any such service is to remind all who gather of the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ, and sharing in his resurrection.

I believe that the same goes for a church's own funeral. And so we affirmed that it is not death which defines us; it is life—eternal life. For God is about making all things new. God is about making a new creation. God is the one who says, “Behold, the former things have taken place” (i.e., they're in our past now, behind us), “and new things I declare.” And God is the one who says, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare... and to give you a future with hope.”

I know it sounds trite—almost like what you see on some church signs—but the saying really is true: When God closes one door, God opens another one. We closed the doors of a church the other day, but not before the congregation itself had opened a new door for the larger church. You see, they would've closed shop a year ago, but they saw an opportunity that God gave them. The person who had been supplying their pulpit was a person who had just graduated from seminary, and needing a call in order to be ordained. So this small congregation worked with the Presbytery to have this woman ordained in their church.

Stained glass panel from the
McDowell Presbyterian Church
Greeleyville, SC

It was, I truly believe, an act that declared their hope that, though the season of their own congregation had come to an end, God was doing a new thing in them and through them. Because of their faithfulness and love for the gospel, their last act is to send forth a minister to a new congregation in a new town.

The McDowell Presbyterian Church may have closed its doors, but their faith continues.

Thanks be to God for faithful saints!