The church where I have been a member for almost 30 years was originally organized as a mission church, and that is what it is today. We are small in membership and also generally older in age. Some people prefer to be in a larger church. A lady told me once that she liked a big church because she liked to "get lost" in it. I suppose that means that you go on Sunday morning and then return next Sunday, revived but unencumbered by any close associations. For very busy people that may work for a time, but then the time comes when you no longer want to get lost, you want to be an integral part of the group.
Some years ago there was a popular television sitcom called "Cheers". Ted Danson, the bar owner and bar maid Diane, were the central characters who were surrounded by the regular customers. They were like a family and entertained us for years. They learned to know each other quite well, perhaps because the alcohol loosened their tongues and they became less inhibited. Whereas, in our churches we do not go for a drink and conversation, we do receive a balm of affirmation with like minded people.
I was thinking about some of the activities that are an integral part of our church. Because of the hot weather and some temporary health conditions, I have not been there in about three weeks. I miss the connection and this directed my thinking into comparing the aura of our group to the aura of the one time
television sitcom, Cheers. The lead in song says, "Cheers, where everybody knows your name". The same could be said of our church. Maybe we should change the name of our church to Cheers Trinity Presbyterian Church, because after two visits, everybody knows your name.
In order for folks there to really know you, you need to have some other connections. There are lots of opportunities. To name a few: adult Bible class, Bible instruction for children during the church hour, coffee time in fellowship hall before service, a well trained Biblical scholar to lead the service, opportunity to serve as lay leader each Sunday, participate in the adult choir, the bell ringer group, monthly ladies circle, monthly men of the church meeting (usually with a meal), monthly fellowship covered dish dinner. There are multiple service opportunities also. Each month, on the first Wednesday a few members take a meal to the Good News at Noon, Kitchen in our town. Other churches take food on a different day, so every day of the month is supplied. In the hallway of our building, there are shelves which our members keep full of canned goods, dog food, and other household items. Anyone in the community who is struggling to maintain their home can come and take what they need. Last, but not least, the ladies of the church are invited to be a part of a prayer chain. When someone has an emergency, and requests prayer, the calls go out and are passed along to the next person. Prayer is basic to our faith, and expresses concern for each other.
Psychologist stress that children need the association of groups to help them build a lifetime of wholeness. Starting with the child's family, he hopefully branches out with school groups, then sports groups, and various groups structured to train good habits. Circles of friends is a lifelong need, and they should be nurtured and treasured for as long possible.
To answer my question, do churches have personalities, yes I think they do. For the church is the people who gather and worship in oneness of purpose. It is that oneness of purpose which defines our basic personality, it is who we are and how we live.
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Friday, July 15, 2011
Friday, December 3, 2010
The Maryland Years
Earlier I wrote of living in Baltimore, Md. Those were the years of being a home maker and early parenting. Many of our family activities took place in the Baltimore, D.C., Annapolis area.
My husband and I came to this new area as he had taken a job teaching in a high school in Salisbury. it was all part of our Five Year Plan. We decided early on to work, save money, for him go to graduate school, then in five years time we would start our family. Being on the Eastern Shore of Maryland was almost culture shock, in a positive way. We had left family and friends and gone into the unknown.
Our first friends were Phyllis and Russ Cooper. Phyllis worked for the Dept. of Education and invited us, being newcomers to their home, for a duck dinner. Russ was the ultimate outdoorsman. He hunted and fished and we were often treated to wild game dinners. We hit it off as couples and thus began the forming of a nucleus of couples who met and visited and had many happy evenings together.
As we settled into living in the very nice town of Salisbury I found a job teaching a class of three year old children in a Day Care called Tiny Tots. I did not want to sign a contract for a teaching job in the public schools as we had our Five Year Plan to follow. The Nursery was owned by a Mrs. Moore. She was a good business woman and her business thrived. Thinking of those years I remember one little girl who had a phenomenal voice. At Christmas she performed in our little program. She sang "I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus". She had a strong clear voice and was right on key. She would have been out on You Tube if it had been available then.
We found an upstairs apartment with the retired Police Chief of Salisbury. This man and his wife had no children and rented out the top floor of their home. She once gave us a large bowl of beef/vegetable soup. It was simply wonderful and I remember it after 50 years,but have never been able to duplicate it. When we learned we would be a family of three we found other lodgings and this couple was quite upset with us for leaving.
We made friends with Bill Conrad, basketball coach at Wicomoco High School, where my husband taught. Every Saturday morning he came over to our apartment and I made oatmeal for him. His wife's name was Georgia and she worked at a bank. She did not like to make oatmeal. Oatmeal was a regular item at our morning table and we looked forward to his visits.
The manual arts teacher, Nick Guilanio and his wife Faye became friends also. Nick was from New York and if he drank beer he got terrible headaches. Nick helped us select our first dining room set. We used it for over forty years. I loved it as it had a modern design and was made of maple. It was made in Denmark, I think. Nick said it was well built and on his okay we paid $600 for it. A lot of money for us at that time. Thirty years later when my son bought our home in Decatur that furniture went with the house.
Another teacher, ED Manus and his wife, both from Tennessee, became our fast friends. They had three little girls and our friendship with them was a bit different as their girls dictated their social life. Most often we visited in their home in the evenings when the girls were in bed. We played cards a lot and had many meals at their home. We really had a lot of fun with them and the other couples also.
Those were carefree days in 1951 and 1952. We had not started a family, and living in apartments, no yard to maintain. We had time to explore the area around us and eventually bought a lot across the Chesapeake Bay, with an eye to built there one day. That never happened but we had many happy week-ends on Love Point swimming and enjoying the water. My husband bought a runabout type boat which we sometimes used to reach this property. There was a huge fig tree near the clubhouse and I delighted in the fruit of that tree. The first time I had tasted a fresh fig was in Corpus Christi, Texas. I was intrigued with this fruit. The pink interior, which is actually the bloom, is pollinated by a particular wasp.
By the time we had children, and they were old enough to take out in this boat we would cross the bay and spend the day there. Once on the way home we were in the middle of the bay when a squall came up quite suddenly. It was a scary situation. The wind was very forceful and the rain was pelting down. My husband told me and the children to huddle down in the prow to protect us from the biting rain. He, however was right in the line of fire, and navigated us out of the squall and home safely. Only later did I realize what a dangerous situation we were in.
I was reminded of this trip many years later when I was in a boat with my son-in-law Jim, my daughter and their young son. We had been to see the fire works display at Lake Lanier Islands on the night of July fourth. When we left it was dark and Jim discovered that he did not have running lights on his boat. He had to cross the lake northward and get back to my dock with only the light he could see from the shore line. We made it safely but it was a tense ride.
Many memories come back to me of our time living on the eastern shore of Maryland, but this is enough for mow.
My husband and I came to this new area as he had taken a job teaching in a high school in Salisbury. it was all part of our Five Year Plan. We decided early on to work, save money, for him go to graduate school, then in five years time we would start our family. Being on the Eastern Shore of Maryland was almost culture shock, in a positive way. We had left family and friends and gone into the unknown.
Our first friends were Phyllis and Russ Cooper. Phyllis worked for the Dept. of Education and invited us, being newcomers to their home, for a duck dinner. Russ was the ultimate outdoorsman. He hunted and fished and we were often treated to wild game dinners. We hit it off as couples and thus began the forming of a nucleus of couples who met and visited and had many happy evenings together.
As we settled into living in the very nice town of Salisbury I found a job teaching a class of three year old children in a Day Care called Tiny Tots. I did not want to sign a contract for a teaching job in the public schools as we had our Five Year Plan to follow. The Nursery was owned by a Mrs. Moore. She was a good business woman and her business thrived. Thinking of those years I remember one little girl who had a phenomenal voice. At Christmas she performed in our little program. She sang "I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus". She had a strong clear voice and was right on key. She would have been out on You Tube if it had been available then.
We found an upstairs apartment with the retired Police Chief of Salisbury. This man and his wife had no children and rented out the top floor of their home. She once gave us a large bowl of beef/vegetable soup. It was simply wonderful and I remember it after 50 years,but have never been able to duplicate it. When we learned we would be a family of three we found other lodgings and this couple was quite upset with us for leaving.
We made friends with Bill Conrad, basketball coach at Wicomoco High School, where my husband taught. Every Saturday morning he came over to our apartment and I made oatmeal for him. His wife's name was Georgia and she worked at a bank. She did not like to make oatmeal. Oatmeal was a regular item at our morning table and we looked forward to his visits.
The manual arts teacher, Nick Guilanio and his wife Faye became friends also. Nick was from New York and if he drank beer he got terrible headaches. Nick helped us select our first dining room set. We used it for over forty years. I loved it as it had a modern design and was made of maple. It was made in Denmark, I think. Nick said it was well built and on his okay we paid $600 for it. A lot of money for us at that time. Thirty years later when my son bought our home in Decatur that furniture went with the house.
Another teacher, ED Manus and his wife, both from Tennessee, became our fast friends. They had three little girls and our friendship with them was a bit different as their girls dictated their social life. Most often we visited in their home in the evenings when the girls were in bed. We played cards a lot and had many meals at their home. We really had a lot of fun with them and the other couples also.
Those were carefree days in 1951 and 1952. We had not started a family, and living in apartments, no yard to maintain. We had time to explore the area around us and eventually bought a lot across the Chesapeake Bay, with an eye to built there one day. That never happened but we had many happy week-ends on Love Point swimming and enjoying the water. My husband bought a runabout type boat which we sometimes used to reach this property. There was a huge fig tree near the clubhouse and I delighted in the fruit of that tree. The first time I had tasted a fresh fig was in Corpus Christi, Texas. I was intrigued with this fruit. The pink interior, which is actually the bloom, is pollinated by a particular wasp.
By the time we had children, and they were old enough to take out in this boat we would cross the bay and spend the day there. Once on the way home we were in the middle of the bay when a squall came up quite suddenly. It was a scary situation. The wind was very forceful and the rain was pelting down. My husband told me and the children to huddle down in the prow to protect us from the biting rain. He, however was right in the line of fire, and navigated us out of the squall and home safely. Only later did I realize what a dangerous situation we were in.
I was reminded of this trip many years later when I was in a boat with my son-in-law Jim, my daughter and their young son. We had been to see the fire works display at Lake Lanier Islands on the night of July fourth. When we left it was dark and Jim discovered that he did not have running lights on his boat. He had to cross the lake northward and get back to my dock with only the light he could see from the shore line. We made it safely but it was a tense ride.
Many memories come back to me of our time living on the eastern shore of Maryland, but this is enough for mow.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
The Grass Cutter
In 1988 I wrote a piece about a young lady. It is a character study.
The Grass Cutter
As I was driving home from shopping, I noticed a bicycle lying near the curve of the driveway below our house. This was unusual, for we had never had a visitor come by this means of transportation. Living ten miles from town in either direction all of our visitors came by car, truck, van or motorcycle. As I came nearer to the house I could see a dark haired female through our front windows. This wall of windows give considerable light as they extend upward seventeen feet and horizontally for fifteen feet. I drove around to the porch at the back of the house and entered by the back door as is my custom. Before I could get through the kitchen and into the living room I heard a voice call "I guess you wondered who the woman was here with your husband. I'm Linda from the restaurant where Mr. Keaton eats sometimes."
I had not recognized her until she clued me in. "Oh yes, I know you Linda, how are you?" I said, but was quite startled by her changed appearance. On the few occasions when I had stopped by the combination restaurant and grocery store Linda had been disheveled and without make-up and in very casual clothes. The Linda I saw now was petite, tanned in stylish summer apparel with dark curls tumbling all around her face.
"I was so bored", she said "and I was riding my bicycle and remembered Mr. Keaton saying he lived out this way so I thought I'd stop by to say\hello.
"That's great", I said. " We don't get many visitors and we are always glad when someone stops by."
We chatted and she explained that she no longer worked at the store which her step-mother owned. She was tired of working those long hours, from four in the morning until eight at night. She has gone to live with her sister about two miles from us near some property we owned. But now, she explained that she was restless and bored and wanted something to do.
Getting the grass cut in my husband's vineyard has always been a problem and he had been worrying with it all morning. I teasingly said, "You can help Glenn cut grass."
"Well, I've never cut grass before but I'm willing to try it."
"Oh, I was just teasing Linda".
"Well, I'll do it. I need something to do to get my mind off things".
I insisted that I was only teasing. It was hard work and hot outside, so maybe she had best forget it.
But she was hooked on trying to cut grass, and nothing Glenn or I could say would dissuade her from coming the next week to try her hand at grass cutting.
Before she left she put a package of cigarettes on my table and said "I want you to keep these for me. I'm trying to stop and I can't take them home with me or my family will kill me."
"Don't leave them here", I protested.
But she insisted and I put them in a drawer and forgot all about them until the third of July when my son-in-law was here. He was getting ready to set off fire crackers for our own private Independence Day celebration.
"I wish I had a cigarette to light these with." he said.
Being the ever efficient mother-in-law,I opened the drawer and produced the cigarettes. He took two and put the rest back. Thus Linda had two less to smoke.
The next week Linda arrived in her white Reeboks, her shorts and shirt all set to try grass cutting. Glenn put her to work on our yard and surrounding grassy areas.
First he introducrd her to the self-propelled Sears mower. It wasn't long before the motor stopped and he had to show her how to start it again. At this point, he to go to town on some sort of business and left me to supervise Linda. I put on my work clothes and began an outdoor project of my own . Soon the mower stopped again and Linda and I tried to start it.
"Mr. Keaton did something with this thing, she said." It was the throttle.
I said "Let me hold it and you pull on the cord." By our combined efforts we got the mower working, and she set off again."
Linda took several breaks to have a cigarette. I stopped with her and had water or lemonade as we talked. I learned some things about her. She tanned easily because she was descended from the Cherokee Indians. She took medication for epilepsy. She was married for ten years and had been divorced for ten. She worked for ten years in a health food store in Buckhead. And I learned that when she left Atlanta and came here to live, she came to a screeching halt.
She worked for her church in Gainesville, cleaning the building on Saturdays. She attended church Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening. She talked with her hands. She lifted them up and out in front of her and stretched her fingers apart and pointed them inward. This she did when she wanted to make a point.
Some days later, Glenn left to go to Arkansas for a week. Linda called and said she wanted to come and cut grass again because she really enjoyed it. I said, "Come on if you want to." She did. I told her she could go to the vineyard and do whatever she could. I kept working on my project outdoors, which was a considerable project. I could hear the motor stopping occasionally and once a shower came up, and Linda kept right on mowing. She was an odd sight, not much taller than the handle of the mower and leaning into the machine as she followed.
When she got ready to leave that day I said, "Why don't you leave your phone number and take mine, so we can talk about cutting grass.
The next time I saw her, she came riding up with a young man in a blue truck. He drove up to the screened in porch and stopped. Linda got out and came in where I sat reading.
"I came to get the bicycle" she said. "When I told my sister I had left her bicycle on your porch she didn't look too happy." I had driven her home two days before because I had given her a bag of apples and she couldn't carry them on her bike. We chatted a few minutes about unimportant things and the young man put the bike in his truck. She said , "we're taking the day off to go to the mountains." And off they went.
The next day she did not show up. It did not matter one way or the other, but the next day she showed up in her now grass stained Reeboks and the new striped shorts,with sad things to tell me. She had gotten in trouble she said, because she had gone to the mountains. She had a fuss with her sister and brother-in-law. They felt she had neglected her duty by not coming and cutting grass. I reiterated that grass cutting was her choice, and if she did not want to do it, I did not care.
She was still upset and told me she had been to talk to their minister, and he, too, told her she had done wrong. But she was happy about one thing. She had been to church the night before and she said it was a good meeting, that the Lord was there. But because of the row with her sister she had trouble praising him. I said, I understood that, as I had the same problem when I was angry with Glenn. I also told her that she should not be so hard on herself, that I felt too often Christians did that to themselves. And as God knew what was in our hearts, He was the One to consider,not anyone else. She said the young man's live-in girl friend, got angry with her for going off with him, but she said they were just good friends and that was all. I believed her and assured her that if she had a clean heart, God knew it and to stop worrying.
She cut grass in the vineyard and I worked on my project, and we left grass cutting very open and loose when she left.
I did not see Linda again. I made no effort to contact her. I think that something happened to keep her from calling, or coming by. Many years have passed and I often wonder what had happened to this young lady who lead a somewhat disjointed life.
It would be nice to see her, and to know that her life was back on a positive course.
The Grass Cutter
As I was driving home from shopping, I noticed a bicycle lying near the curve of the driveway below our house. This was unusual, for we had never had a visitor come by this means of transportation. Living ten miles from town in either direction all of our visitors came by car, truck, van or motorcycle. As I came nearer to the house I could see a dark haired female through our front windows. This wall of windows give considerable light as they extend upward seventeen feet and horizontally for fifteen feet. I drove around to the porch at the back of the house and entered by the back door as is my custom. Before I could get through the kitchen and into the living room I heard a voice call "I guess you wondered who the woman was here with your husband. I'm Linda from the restaurant where Mr. Keaton eats sometimes."
I had not recognized her until she clued me in. "Oh yes, I know you Linda, how are you?" I said, but was quite startled by her changed appearance. On the few occasions when I had stopped by the combination restaurant and grocery store Linda had been disheveled and without make-up and in very casual clothes. The Linda I saw now was petite, tanned in stylish summer apparel with dark curls tumbling all around her face.
"I was so bored", she said "and I was riding my bicycle and remembered Mr. Keaton saying he lived out this way so I thought I'd stop by to say\hello.
"That's great", I said. " We don't get many visitors and we are always glad when someone stops by."
We chatted and she explained that she no longer worked at the store which her step-mother owned. She was tired of working those long hours, from four in the morning until eight at night. She has gone to live with her sister about two miles from us near some property we owned. But now, she explained that she was restless and bored and wanted something to do.
Getting the grass cut in my husband's vineyard has always been a problem and he had been worrying with it all morning. I teasingly said, "You can help Glenn cut grass."
"Well, I've never cut grass before but I'm willing to try it."
"Oh, I was just teasing Linda".
"Well, I'll do it. I need something to do to get my mind off things".
I insisted that I was only teasing. It was hard work and hot outside, so maybe she had best forget it.
But she was hooked on trying to cut grass, and nothing Glenn or I could say would dissuade her from coming the next week to try her hand at grass cutting.
Before she left she put a package of cigarettes on my table and said "I want you to keep these for me. I'm trying to stop and I can't take them home with me or my family will kill me."
"Don't leave them here", I protested.
But she insisted and I put them in a drawer and forgot all about them until the third of July when my son-in-law was here. He was getting ready to set off fire crackers for our own private Independence Day celebration.
"I wish I had a cigarette to light these with." he said.
Being the ever efficient mother-in-law,I opened the drawer and produced the cigarettes. He took two and put the rest back. Thus Linda had two less to smoke.
The next week Linda arrived in her white Reeboks, her shorts and shirt all set to try grass cutting. Glenn put her to work on our yard and surrounding grassy areas.
First he introducrd her to the self-propelled Sears mower. It wasn't long before the motor stopped and he had to show her how to start it again. At this point, he to go to town on some sort of business and left me to supervise Linda. I put on my work clothes and began an outdoor project of my own . Soon the mower stopped again and Linda and I tried to start it.
"Mr. Keaton did something with this thing, she said." It was the throttle.
I said "Let me hold it and you pull on the cord." By our combined efforts we got the mower working, and she set off again."
Linda took several breaks to have a cigarette. I stopped with her and had water or lemonade as we talked. I learned some things about her. She tanned easily because she was descended from the Cherokee Indians. She took medication for epilepsy. She was married for ten years and had been divorced for ten. She worked for ten years in a health food store in Buckhead. And I learned that when she left Atlanta and came here to live, she came to a screeching halt.
She worked for her church in Gainesville, cleaning the building on Saturdays. She attended church Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening. She talked with her hands. She lifted them up and out in front of her and stretched her fingers apart and pointed them inward. This she did when she wanted to make a point.
Some days later, Glenn left to go to Arkansas for a week. Linda called and said she wanted to come and cut grass again because she really enjoyed it. I said, "Come on if you want to." She did. I told her she could go to the vineyard and do whatever she could. I kept working on my project outdoors, which was a considerable project. I could hear the motor stopping occasionally and once a shower came up, and Linda kept right on mowing. She was an odd sight, not much taller than the handle of the mower and leaning into the machine as she followed.
When she got ready to leave that day I said, "Why don't you leave your phone number and take mine, so we can talk about cutting grass.
The next time I saw her, she came riding up with a young man in a blue truck. He drove up to the screened in porch and stopped. Linda got out and came in where I sat reading.
"I came to get the bicycle" she said. "When I told my sister I had left her bicycle on your porch she didn't look too happy." I had driven her home two days before because I had given her a bag of apples and she couldn't carry them on her bike. We chatted a few minutes about unimportant things and the young man put the bike in his truck. She said , "we're taking the day off to go to the mountains." And off they went.
The next day she did not show up. It did not matter one way or the other, but the next day she showed up in her now grass stained Reeboks and the new striped shorts,with sad things to tell me. She had gotten in trouble she said, because she had gone to the mountains. She had a fuss with her sister and brother-in-law. They felt she had neglected her duty by not coming and cutting grass. I reiterated that grass cutting was her choice, and if she did not want to do it, I did not care.
She was still upset and told me she had been to talk to their minister, and he, too, told her she had done wrong. But she was happy about one thing. She had been to church the night before and she said it was a good meeting, that the Lord was there. But because of the row with her sister she had trouble praising him. I said, I understood that, as I had the same problem when I was angry with Glenn. I also told her that she should not be so hard on herself, that I felt too often Christians did that to themselves. And as God knew what was in our hearts, He was the One to consider,not anyone else. She said the young man's live-in girl friend, got angry with her for going off with him, but she said they were just good friends and that was all. I believed her and assured her that if she had a clean heart, God knew it and to stop worrying.
She cut grass in the vineyard and I worked on my project, and we left grass cutting very open and loose when she left.
I did not see Linda again. I made no effort to contact her. I think that something happened to keep her from calling, or coming by. Many years have passed and I often wonder what had happened to this young lady who lead a somewhat disjointed life.
It would be nice to see her, and to know that her life was back on a positive course.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Once a year
As I was pulling into the parking space at my church yesterday, another car was pulling up also. The man in the car called to me and told me his name and why he was there. I knew someone from his group would be coming so we chatted as we walked into the building.
Entering the building I introduced the man and his wife to our pastor and we all settled into the classroom used for the adult Sunday School.. This couple fitted into our group and the conversation that takes place prior to the lesson.
The lesson for that morning was very appropriate as we were hearing more about how the written word was selected to become part of the Bible. Previously we had studied the Apocrypha and learned why it was not a part of most Christian Bibles. The visitor injected one fact which I had not thought of. He said "Jesus did not speak of the books in the Apocrypha", whereas he did speak of other parts of the Old Testament. Our pastor (our teacher) agreed that this indeed was true.
After the class we all gathered in the fellowship hall for coffee, tea and tasty nibbles brought in by one of the ladies. This is a time to catch up with our other members and get acquainted with visitors. Each Sunday a different lady plays hostess to this time of fellowship. Our guests joined in and enjoyed the comradery .
When we all gathered in the sanctuary and after the children's sermon our expected guest was introduced and welcomed to the pulpit. He told a compelling story about how one of the red, new testaments which his group distributes, was used in a prison.
It seems that a man had been sent to prison for murder. He had been given one of the small red, new testaments. He used it to roll into cigarettes. He had been doing this for years. One day as he held the burning cigarette in his hand he noticed some words at the end of the burning paper. What he saw said "be free". That caught his attention. He put out the burning paper and tried to read more, but it was all destroyed by fire. He could not even see what page it was in the little book. He waited eagerly for the little red bibles to be distributed again and when he got his he started at the beginning to read it through looking for how to "be free". By the time he had read it through, he understood the kind of freedom that it was describing. He was overcome with a burning desire to know more. The rest of the story is that he eventually was released and he spent the rest of his life telling others how they too could be free. He did this from the pulpit for the rest of his life.
The gentleman who was telling this story from the pulpit of our church was a member of a different denomination than ours. Also he was a committed member of an international group of men and women whose purpose is to distribute Bibles in every language all over the world.
His purpose in visiting us was to solicit funds to purchase more Bibles. Once a year we have someone from his group, called Gideons, come to speak to us. Any who can help, support these efforts.
Most of the year we are focused on other missions like our Good News at Noon, our Day Care, Food Pantry, Boxes of Love (for down on their luck folks), Change for Children, Joy Gift to retired church leaders, and Santa Express (at Christmas for folks in Presbyterian Homes). But one time a year we change our focus for that day to help fund an international effort to hopefully enlighten someone in life's journey. Each year a different representative is welcomed into our group to remind us that there are many whose burden could be lifted by our small gifts.
We enjoyed this friendly couple who happened in for a few hours. It is interesting how quickly a bond can be forged with strangers who have a common core belief. I do not know if I will ever see them again as they live in a different part of the county, but it gave me an enduring memory and for a brief time an opportunity to reach out to care about some I will never meet. Hopefully those someones will also know about the freedom that we shared this day.
Entering the building I introduced the man and his wife to our pastor and we all settled into the classroom used for the adult Sunday School.. This couple fitted into our group and the conversation that takes place prior to the lesson.
The lesson for that morning was very appropriate as we were hearing more about how the written word was selected to become part of the Bible. Previously we had studied the Apocrypha and learned why it was not a part of most Christian Bibles. The visitor injected one fact which I had not thought of. He said "Jesus did not speak of the books in the Apocrypha", whereas he did speak of other parts of the Old Testament. Our pastor (our teacher) agreed that this indeed was true.
After the class we all gathered in the fellowship hall for coffee, tea and tasty nibbles brought in by one of the ladies. This is a time to catch up with our other members and get acquainted with visitors. Each Sunday a different lady plays hostess to this time of fellowship. Our guests joined in and enjoyed the comradery .
When we all gathered in the sanctuary and after the children's sermon our expected guest was introduced and welcomed to the pulpit. He told a compelling story about how one of the red, new testaments which his group distributes, was used in a prison.
It seems that a man had been sent to prison for murder. He had been given one of the small red, new testaments. He used it to roll into cigarettes. He had been doing this for years. One day as he held the burning cigarette in his hand he noticed some words at the end of the burning paper. What he saw said "be free". That caught his attention. He put out the burning paper and tried to read more, but it was all destroyed by fire. He could not even see what page it was in the little book. He waited eagerly for the little red bibles to be distributed again and when he got his he started at the beginning to read it through looking for how to "be free". By the time he had read it through, he understood the kind of freedom that it was describing. He was overcome with a burning desire to know more. The rest of the story is that he eventually was released and he spent the rest of his life telling others how they too could be free. He did this from the pulpit for the rest of his life.
The gentleman who was telling this story from the pulpit of our church was a member of a different denomination than ours. Also he was a committed member of an international group of men and women whose purpose is to distribute Bibles in every language all over the world.
His purpose in visiting us was to solicit funds to purchase more Bibles. Once a year we have someone from his group, called Gideons, come to speak to us. Any who can help, support these efforts.
Most of the year we are focused on other missions like our Good News at Noon, our Day Care, Food Pantry, Boxes of Love (for down on their luck folks), Change for Children, Joy Gift to retired church leaders, and Santa Express (at Christmas for folks in Presbyterian Homes). But one time a year we change our focus for that day to help fund an international effort to hopefully enlighten someone in life's journey. Each year a different representative is welcomed into our group to remind us that there are many whose burden could be lifted by our small gifts.
We enjoyed this friendly couple who happened in for a few hours. It is interesting how quickly a bond can be forged with strangers who have a common core belief. I do not know if I will ever see them again as they live in a different part of the county, but it gave me an enduring memory and for a brief time an opportunity to reach out to care about some I will never meet. Hopefully those someones will also know about the freedom that we shared this day.
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