The preacher had a habit of working
on his sermon outline in a TGIF/ Applebees kind of place. This particular
day he was wearing a short-sleeve cotton golf shirt with the church’s logo and
name over the breast pocket.
The waitress was a young woman. Who had multiple piercings and tattoos.
“What are you working on? Are you a professor at the university?” she asked the pastor. “No,” he said, “I am one of the preachers at the United Methodist Church down the road just off the interstate.”
The waitress didn’t say much to her customer after that. She worked her tables.
Then, she came back to the table where the pastor was sitting by himself. The waitress asked if the preacher had some time to talk. He said, “Sure.”
She told him about growing up in the church. She told him about some choices she made. She talked about a chapter in her life that had been dominated by drugs. About some poor choices in relationships. She talked about getting pregnant. The father leaving her before the baby ever arrived. Then, she talked about being angry at God for the mess of her life. She talked about a period where she became a witch. She read books about magic and black arts and was into that life.
“There is something missing,” the young woman told the man at the table. “I realize that what I believe and what I am involved in is leading nowhere good. The longer I am involved with this, the more I can feel something inside me dying. There is a hunger in me to believe something better about life. I want to know who God really is, but I don’t know where to start.”
So they talked for a bit. The pastor talked about a God who loved her and wanted her life to be good and full. The pastor talked about a God who would never walk away from her -in contrast to the men in her life who had used her and abandoned her. He invited her to try a small group, or worship, or the young mother’s group.
The young woman, with tattoos up and down her arms, quietly asked, “What kind of a church is your church? Would your church want someone like me around?”
How would you answer that question? If someone asked you what kind of church First Church/ The Open Door is, what would you say? Would you be able to tell them this community is real and genuine? Would you be able to tell them we are a community where all kinds of people are welcome? Would you say this is a place where you don’t have to pretend to have it all together?
This Sunday we begin a new series of messages. This weekend we look at what 1st John 1-2 have to say about being set free by God’s love. “No Pretending Necessary” is the title of the message.
In Christ and for Christ,
Mark
The waitress was a young woman. Who had multiple piercings and tattoos.
“What are you working on? Are you a professor at the university?” she asked the pastor. “No,” he said, “I am one of the preachers at the United Methodist Church down the road just off the interstate.”
The waitress didn’t say much to her customer after that. She worked her tables.
Then, she came back to the table where the pastor was sitting by himself. The waitress asked if the preacher had some time to talk. He said, “Sure.”
She told him about growing up in the church. She told him about some choices she made. She talked about a chapter in her life that had been dominated by drugs. About some poor choices in relationships. She talked about getting pregnant. The father leaving her before the baby ever arrived. Then, she talked about being angry at God for the mess of her life. She talked about a period where she became a witch. She read books about magic and black arts and was into that life.
“There is something missing,” the young woman told the man at the table. “I realize that what I believe and what I am involved in is leading nowhere good. The longer I am involved with this, the more I can feel something inside me dying. There is a hunger in me to believe something better about life. I want to know who God really is, but I don’t know where to start.”
So they talked for a bit. The pastor talked about a God who loved her and wanted her life to be good and full. The pastor talked about a God who would never walk away from her -in contrast to the men in her life who had used her and abandoned her. He invited her to try a small group, or worship, or the young mother’s group.
The young woman, with tattoos up and down her arms, quietly asked, “What kind of a church is your church? Would your church want someone like me around?”
How would you answer that question? If someone asked you what kind of church First Church/ The Open Door is, what would you say? Would you be able to tell them this community is real and genuine? Would you be able to tell them we are a community where all kinds of people are welcome? Would you say this is a place where you don’t have to pretend to have it all together?
This Sunday we begin a new series of messages. This weekend we look at what 1st John 1-2 have to say about being set free by God’s love. “No Pretending Necessary” is the title of the message.
In Christ and for Christ,
Mark
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