IT IS USUAL for we ministers and preachers to rail about the lack of concern for things spiritual among even church folks, church members that on a Sunday many can be found at the Mall, the grocery store, the golf course, or at home sleeping! Many aren’t at their place in the pew; and so, we preachers complain and criticize and rail against that. We say things like, “if gold rusts, what shall iron do”?!
I am not for relaxing the discipline (or the disappointment!) one bit; BUT (and it is a large BUT) I find absolutely no backing in the Christian way for scolding, none. People have their reasons why they cannot always be in church at an appointed hour; I am inclined to respect that.
I notice also that our Lord began his ministry, according to St. Luke, amidst much opposition and blatant rejection. His first sermon at Nazareth started our wonderfully well, people were falling all over themselves with admiration and applause; before he finished they tried to throw him off the edge of a cliff, they were so incensed. He got himself out of that and, after, said nothing about it. He didn’t blame those who were not interested, not open, not positive, just not present; he turned his attention to those whose spirits were parched, troubled, tormented. When “gold rusted” he sought out the “iron folks”
In other words he did not spend much time trying to convince the at-the-moment satisfied and doing o.k., where they were missing the mark, he concentrated on those who needed the help and support he could give. Maybe he thought, “If we have something and people need it bad enough, they will come.”
More than that, and I think much more than that, Jesus took these experiences of disinterest and opposition and applied them to his own work. He believed what he had come to offer people was important, that it would benefit in a great many ways. So, he set out to do his level best with what he had for those who found a way to receive it. He knew there would always be those folks too. Again and Again in those early, first days of his work, he brought peace and healing to those who were not well, he expelled the evil forces that dragged people down, he welcomed others who might join, might assist, might offer their own contributions. He extended the realm of God wherever he went.
So, I think about that as I do my work, as we do our work as a Church. We are not the ones to decide who needs what the Church and our Lord Jesus have to give, we are to do all we can to make that available wherever there is the need. Bringing others together with God in joyful and fulfilling ways is what we are to do; the outcome is in hands other than our own.
It really isn’t a matter of how many, it’s a matter of how much and how well. The pronouncement “Well Done” still rates highest.
Pastor Condon
Comments