THE CHURCH’S CALL TO ITS PEOPLE--DON'T BE THE DEATH OF ME

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 Isaiah 44:9-17

 There is no other organization in the world like the church.  It is a breed unto itself.  It is a congregation of sinners, not a country club for saints.  To become a member you have to profess your unworthiness.  To be something more than a name on its rules you have to become a working Christian, and that takes a heap of living and a ton of dedication. 

A good Christian tithes, a good Christian serves, a good Christian is a constant transfusion to the life’s blood of what otherwise is nothing more than stone and brick.  A good Christian sometimes complains, but only with compassion.  A good Christian may sometimes find fault, but he does not cast stones.  A good Christian is to his or her church a shot in the arm.  A poor Christian is to his or her church a shot in the head.

The only thing that holds a church together and helps it to grow is a vigorous acceptance of God’s love for man and man’s love for God.  Sometimes, the church is a narrow-minded, denomination.  Sometimes it can show a fantastic lack of vision.  But at the same time, it is a community that feeds the soul like no other community.  And anyone who is waiting for the church to be perfect before joining, has a long wait coming.

Once upon a time, a church extended a call to a minister.  The necessary amenities took place and he accepted the call.  However, he had not long been at his labors before he decided that if the church was not dead, it at least was as close to this condition as possible.  Therefore, exactly one month after his arrival, he sent out the following letter to the members of the congregation.

“Dear Members:

On next Sunday morning, a funeral service will be held for our church.  You are urged to attend and pay your last respects.”

Needless to say, on the next Sunday morning, church attendance looked like Easter, Christmas and Judgment Day all rolled up into one.  Curiosity as to exactly what a funeral service for a dead church might be like had stirred up, shaken out and brought forth members who hadn’t been seen for years.  As each entrant moved through the doors into the sanctuary, the very first thing they saw was a plain, gray closed casket just beneath the pulpit and at the head of the aisle.  There were no flowers.  The music was played so soft one had to strain to hear it.  Soon there no longer room inside so chairs were set up on the lawn and a makeshift loud-speaker system was activated.

At last, the minister entered from a side door, moved forward and began to speak;

“Dear friends, it does my heart good to see this church had so many who cared and that it has not been forgotten in this time of sorrow.”

He made several other comments about its untimely death and how the community would feel its loss and then he said, “I will now ask the undertaker to remove the lid from the casket so that you may each view the remains of your dead church.”

Slowly the members of the congregation came down the aisle and to the casket and looking down each one saw his or herself reflected in a mirror.

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Recent articles Rev. Wyrick has written for this web site are:  REFLECTIONS

·         Many Kinds of Slavery - But Are They Not All Very Much The Same? (July 2012)

·         Here Comes Summer (July 2012)

·         Spring (May 2012)

·         Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow (April 2012)

·         Wayward and Windy (April 2012)

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