Wheels of Glory! Blog

Visiting Churches 4 – Finding Rest – VOTD.10.17.17

Posted in Verse of the Day | October 17th, 2017 | by

The rain and snow come down from the heavens, and remain, watering the earth and making it bring forth vegetation, so that it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater.  Isaiah 55:10

Isaac was living in the land of Gerar in Genesis 26, and decided to go to Egypt because famine had arisen in Gerar. But the Lord told him to stay and that He would bless Him in that land. The Bible tells us in v 12 that, “Isaac sowed in THAT LAND, and received in the same year a hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.” Sowing in a land that is experiencing famine makes no sense. It was expensive and made him look silly to his neighbors and work-force. Yet Isaac sowed in that land of famine based on the word of God and the Lord blessed him.

Last time we looked a bit at ‘casting bread upon the water’ (Ecc 11:1) and that it returns in some unexpected ways. My point was: when we’re doing it in ministry to ‘the least of these my brothers’ and sisters, God takes it personally, and He is the One we’re sowing for (Mat 25:40). And when we’re sowing, we’re not just giving something away. We’re ministering to a need—even if it’s just making a stranger feel honored.

It’s a lesson I learned visiting a west-coast church. We had visited that church several times as we passed through; it was the third time we’d visited at night. The meetings got out late and for our east-coast biological clocks we were tired. The first 2 times, when we asked the security person if we could just park our self-contained, sleep-in van in their parking lot for the night, that it was ok with them.

But on this third occasion, a security person with a different view of things said no. I mentioned that we had been allowed to on earlier occasions. He wasn’t budging. So we went Walmart for the night (Walmart usually allows campers to park the night at their stores). There were more than a dozen other campers in the Walmart lot when we arrived and we sacked out immediately.

The next morning I noticed the Walmart security circling the lot as usual. But then the security man stopped at our van. I figured that maybe we had done something wrong, but if we had, why choose us out of the many campers? Turns out the employees of Walmart had put together a care package for us—two bags of groceries, which he presented to us. I was shocked—and blessed. This had never happened to us before.

Later, as we drove, I asked the Lord if there was a point to all this. He brought to mind Proverbs 11:25. “The generous soul shall be made fat: and he that waters shall be watered also himself.”

You see, Walmart got a blessing for blessing us, because God took it personally. And in a sense, Walmart got the blessing that church could have gotten. I’m saying this as a principle, not in angsts against that church or the security person. I still like the church, and the security person probably thought he was doing his job. But the principle is the same. Walmart got the blessing.

Jesus tells us to “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall people give into your lap. For with the same measure that you sow it shall be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38). Notice: It’s PEOPLE who pour into your lap. God uses people, even when they are unaware.

As a side note: I visit these churches because I want to. I don’t wish to give the impression that anyone has to visit churches as they travel. We have done it as we’ve felt the desire to. I have been enriched by meeting new people and learning new lessons. But I don’t want to pass this on as some kind of obligation or a way of earning spirituality points.

Wheels of Glory! Blog

Visiting Churches 3 – Just Passing Through – VOTD.10.16.17

Posted in Verse of the Day | October 16th, 2017 | by

And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  Matthew 5:47

I’ve had many good experiences with people treating me very graciously when visiting their church, even though they know I’m passing through— I won’t be returning there regularly (see below). But one of the downers of church visiting is when people who greet you drop you cold when they discover that you aren’t a perspective new congregant. It’s one of the hazards of church visiting when traveling. But it always makes me feel like I’ve let some people down.

When we look at each unfamiliar face as little more than a potential new member, it can be pretty discouraging to find they don’t live in the area. In one church we visited, more than one person literally asked us if we would move across the continent so we could go to their church. This seemed odd until we found out that there were many families in that church who had done just that. I had never stopped to consider just how desperate some people are for a better church experience.

But to the point, do we value people who come into our midst whether they’re local or just passing through? Or do we even bother to greet people who aren’t our “own people”. It would be easy to assume that God doesn’t have much to say on the subject, but over and over again in the Old and New Testaments, God tells His people to honor strangers in their midst. (e.g. Deut 10:19, Lev 19:34).

And then, Hebrews puts this twist on it, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it” (13:2). Obviously, we’re not angels. But do you know I’ve been handed official visitor bags with some pretty neat stuff (worship CD’s, mementoes, books, etc.)? Gift certificates for free stuff at their foyer store or coffee shop…

All of that was on a ‘church-level’. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned by visiting churches, no official visitor ministry set up by the church can match the individual, ad-hoc kindnesses that congregants do on their own.

On that person-to-person level, I’ve had people invite my family to meals even though we visit with no object in moving to the area. As visitors, we’ve experienced people handing us money—significant sums of money—to honor us on our way; or giving us food… This seems pretty extreme to me, but I’m mentioning it to give glory to God and acknowledgment to people who are better at honoring strangers in their midst than I am.

It’s almost like these people—these churches—have learned that if you bless God’s kids, He blesses you back… That if you “Cast your bread upon the waters: you shall find it after many days” (Ecc 11:1). Blessing others is their life-style and they receive as they bless.

More on this next time…