1 Advent B - sermon

Stay awake, be prepared. In this sermon I change Jesus' parable to be of someone whose house is up for sale and needs to keep it clean because a potential buyer that might come by at any time. How would we feel if someone came unexpectedly to our home and we were not prepared?

1 Advent B

Transcribed from a sermon given

At St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

November 27, 2011

Mark 13:24-37

By Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

The little story or tiny parable that Jesus just tells at the end of this reading about the servant that is left in charge of the house as the master is away doesn’t really resonate with most of us. I know all of you pretty well and I don’t think any of you have servants at this point in your lives. And, as far as I know, none of you have served as a slave or a servant, so we don’t really have a good sense of the implications of this story. In Jesus’ time people understood about a rich household and how the servants or slaves would have authority. They knew that whoever was the door keeper would have authority over the whole house to keep it safe and be sure that everything ran smoothly. But that doesn’t resonate with us, so I thought I’d tell it in a slightly different way, something that some of us at least have had experience with - selling our houses.

Now imagine that you are putting your house up for sale. There is a lot of preparation to get ready for that. You know. You paint the things that you have always meant to paint. You fix the things that need to be fixed. And you get the carpet cleaned. You do all those little things. Then during the time when it is up for sale you need to keep it really clean all the time, because you never now when somebody is going to come to view it and see it. You hope that the real estate agents will call first so you can do a quick straightening up of the house, but there is no guarantee. And sometimes the amount of time you have isn’t very much. So imagine that you are trying to sell your house, and it has been on the market for a while so you have gotten a little relaxed about keeping it nice. Suddenly the doorbell rings and there is a man at the door who says, “Your house is in exactly the neighborhood I want to be in and exactly the style of house that I want. This is my only chance to see it, can I come and see it?” Suddenly you go through your mind and you realize there are dirty dishes in the sink, and you haven’t dusted in a couple days, and you meant to take the garbage out last night because it was already starting to smell a little bit then, and then in the bedroom, the stuff, the clothes that are sitting around, Oh my! “Well could you come back in a little bit?” “Well no, this is the only time I have to see the house.” Well needless to say you’ve lost your sale because the house doesn’t look or smell or feel like home for this person. You’ve lost the opportunity because you haven’t kept awake. You haven’t kept things in order.

Symbolically in literature or when interpreting dreams the house represents our bodies, ourselves, who we are. So when Jesus talks about keeping the house and keeping awake for the master to return he is reminding people of whose house it is. This body, this body was created by God. We didn’t make it. And whatever that is that says “me” and “I” is really just using this body. It is on loan. I am a servant of the master. Or as it is put in the Old Testament, “He is the potter, we are the pot.” So what we do in keeping our house represents ourselves.

If we were to say symbolically someone had a messy house then they might have a messy inner life. If they leave the garbage sitting around and it starts to smell that could represent those parts of ourselves that we haven’t dealt with. The old angers and resentments that are still sitting there and we have never cleaned out. Things we have never dealt with and after a while they just start to putrefy and they start to affect our whole being. These are the places where we haven’t asked for forgiveness or we haven’t forgiven. It is all those ways in which we are not paying attention, being awake.

This particular story comes right after Jesus was talking about the end time, which was a very common theme in the prophets in the couple of hundred years before Jesus. It was the idea that the world was unjust, that things were terrible and at some point God was going to come and wipe out things the way they were and bring back the glorious Kingdom of God. Because during that time the Israelites were pretty much always under the thumb of some empire, whether it was Syria or Rome or some other empire. Things were tough and they wanted things to change and they predicted there would be an end to the world as they knew it and a new life with God. So Jesus is referring to and uses the language of those prophets when he talks about the Son of Man coming on a cloud. So right after he is talking about the end time, he uses this image of being ready, of being prepared.

Now it wasn’t too long ago, less then a month or so, I don’t remember the exact date, when there was that pastor somewhere in the south that said he knew exactly when the end of time was going to come. And it didn’t, so he recalculated it and said it is coming at this other time. He must have missed this part of Mark. For a pastor to not have read that even Jesus and the angels don’t know when it is going to happen. I don’t know how he could think that he knew.

And I don’t know when it is going to happen or if it is going to happen or what it is going to be like, but I do know that each and every one of us will have a time when the world darkens, sun, moon, lamps, will give no light. We will no longer be able to see. We will no longer be able to hear. And everything will be different because each and every one of us at some point is going to die. And we don’t know whether we are going to die at the same time that everybody on earth dies, which would be the end time as it is described, or whether our death will just be the end of our relationship with this earth, but we all will have a time when we die.

We as Christians believe that at that point we are going to encounter Christ. What’s that going to be like? Well if you haven’t kept your house clean and you haven’t kept you house in order, what is it going to be like? Now there will be some of us, some people are graced with knowing they are about to die. They have an opportunity to reconcile with those people they have never reconciled with. They have had an opportunity to express their apologies, to receive forgiveness, to forgive others, to put their house in order. It is like the person coming to the door gives you a call a couple of hours ahead, so you can race around the house and clean everything up. Some people are given that grace. Some of us aren’t. Some of us may die in an automobile accident or a heart attack or a stroke with no knowledge ahead of time. No chance to clean up those lose ends. There will be the knock on the door and there we will have whatever it is we have.

Now if the person at the door is a stranger it is going to be pretty tough. But let’s suppose instead of that being a stranger that wanted to buy your house suppose in that story it was your mother. And your mother comes and knocks on your door and your house is a mess. Well, my mother is no longer alive, but I would be embarrassed, you know. I’d feel like I let her down. I wasn’t living up to what she wanted me to live up to. And she would probably give me that look, you know, every mother has a look. Each mother has a look that is some combination of “you’ve done it again,” and “I love you anyway.” We all know that look. And those of us that are mothers are really good at doing it as well. So if my house was a mess and my mother was at the door I might be embarrassed, I might feel bad, I might apologize, but I would know that she would still love me. There would be no question about that, assuming that I had kept a good relationship with my mother.

Or what if you have a really good friend and they drop by? A really good friend is that sort of person that can drop by and you don’t feel bad about the fact that you haven’t picked up the house because they have been there before. They have helped make some of the messes in your house. They know you, they know who you are and how you live, and they appreciate you for who you really are. And you are comfortable with them no matter what. You trust their love, no matter what.

And so when we die, and we encounter Christ, who will Christ be to you? Will Christ be a stranger that you feel judged by? Will Christ be a loving parent where you will feel sort of embarrassed at the life you have lived, but you know they are going to love you anyway? Or is Christ going to be a good friend who has been with you each day of your life and so at this point knows you completely. What will it be like?

St. Therese of Lesieux is known for writing about the “The Little Way.” She was very simple and profound nun. In one of her writings she includes a little prayer.

After earth’s exile I hope to go and enjoy you in the father land but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven I want to work for your love alone. In the evening of this life I shall appear before you with empty hands for I do not ask you Lord to count my works. All our justice is blemished in your eyes. I wish then to be clothed in your own justice, and to receive from your love the eternal possession of yourself.

Keep awake, prepare for the coming of Christ. But what really is going to matter at that moment is not what we have done or what we have left undone, what is going to matter is our relationship with the one who comes to greet us.

Christ the King - sermon

This week I am only able to post the first half of a sermon I gave on Christ the King Sunday in 2011. The recording of the sermon cut off about half way through. But you may still find the discussion of how is going to go to heaven interesting.

Christ the King

Last Pentecost

Transcribed from a sermon given

At St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

On November 20, 2011

By Rev. Valerie Hart

I’d like you to imagine that it is 200 years from now and you are a graduate student studying cultural anthropology. You have decided for your dissertation that you are going to look at the attitudes of Christians at the turn of the 21^st century, which is the beginning of the 21^st century, about heaven and hell. You wanted to know who they believed was going to heaven and who they believed was going to hell. Now you have all of the newspaper articles, you have copies of different TV shows and news shows; you even have access to some of the web sites. You use all these different resources to try and understand what were Christians thinking at the turn of the century.

What would you find? You’d find that there were a lot of people out there who thought they know who is going to heaven. Right? And you’d find different things. If you studied people who were into sacramental theology you would read that you had to be baptized to go to heaven. Or perhaps you had to get last rights from the Church to go to heaven. If you looked at the more fundamentalist side you would find they have all kinds of ideas of why you might go to heaven. Usually it would have to do with some kind of right belief. For example, that you have taken Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior. Or in order to get to haven you had to believe the way that that particular denomination believed. Of course then it depends upon how large the particular group is to determine how large heaven is. And then of course you would have the progressives who would say everybody is going to heaven, there’s going to be no judgment.

So that’s what the 21^st century says about heaven, but what about hell? I need to ask you for help on this one, or maybe we don’t need to say it out loud. Who’s going to hell? Who’s going to hell?

The people who aren’t baptized are going to hell? People who aren’t Christians? People who don’t take Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior? Or is it more about people who break one of the rules. We have quite a set of rules. There are so many rules and laws in scripture. Much more than just the Ten Commandments there are thousands of other rules and laws if you look through Leviticus.

How often have you heard people saying that X person is going to hell because they have broken one of the rules? If you look historically you’ll find that the rules that lead to hell change with the culture. In Europe a few centuries ago one of the things that would lead to going to hell was charging usury. That means charging interest on a loan. This was part of the reason that the banks became so associated with the Jewish people. Because,  “A good Christian didn’t charge interest.” Then of course in the twentieth century it was a lot about different kinds of sexual sin. In the early twentieth century adultery was it, but adultery has become so common now that if everyone who commits adultery is going to hell… A lot of people don’t want to bring that up anymore. Especially with the issue of Jesus saying that if you get divorced and remarried that’s adultery. So divorce is no longer a sure ticket to hell.

But there is always something. And we know what some of them are that you hear about today. Shortly after I started at St. Barnabas there was a guy who came in between the services and told me I was going to hell because a woman shouldn’t be preaching. So we all know this. You have seen the signs. We used to go to hockey games and there was a guy who would stand outside saying you are going to hell if, and you fill in the blank. And then it would have some scripture reading. He would stand in front of the hockey game. All I could think of was wondering if that somebody who is trying to turn people away from Christianity, because it certainly isn’t going to bring anybody in.

Yes, there are a lot of people that you’ll hear who say they know who is going to hell and that they know who is going to heaven.

Well here we have this gospel passage of Jesus, called the small apocalypse. It is one of the few times where Jesus talks about the end time and the coming of the king in glory. He describes the kind as dividing the sheep from the goats, reflecting back to that Ezekiel passage and other prophets that talk about the shepherd of Israel coming to gather the sheep together. Here the king has come at the end time and the sheep and the goats, all the animals that have been feeding together, are brought together and they are sorted out. And how are they sorted out? Well the sheep are the ones about which he said, “When I was hungry you fed me. When I was thirsty you gave me something to drink. When I was sick you visited me. When I was in prison you visited me.” In other words, you cared about me. Little small acts of kindness. Small acts of kindness that they didn’t even realize they were doing.

And what of the ones who go into the eternal damnation? Yes there is judgment her. (So those of us who would say there is no judgment have to deal with a passage like this as well). There is judgment, and the ones who are turned away from God are the ones about which the king says,  “I was hungry and you didn’t feed me, I was thirsty and you didn’t give me anything to drink. I was homeless and you didn’t give me a place to stay, I had no clothes and you didn’t clothe me.” In other words, you didn’t take care of me.

Both groups say, “When did we do that? I never saw you hungry or thirsty.” And then there is that very telling comment, “When you did it to the least of my family you did it to me.” On the other hand,  “if you didn’t do it to the least of my family you didn’t do it for me.” So Jesus is saying that this judgment is not based on correct belief, at least in this passage. It is not based on whether you are baptized or not, he never talked about that particularly. It’s not based on being part of a specific community. It is based on a loving heart. And it actually is based on one of the laws, at least one the ones that Jesus talks about. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Or in John’s Gospel love one another as I have loved you. It’s about relationship.

(This was the end of the recording and the second half of the sermon was not available.)

Proper 28 A - Sermon

This Sunday we read the parable of the talents. The question is not do we have talents to share. We all have been given talents. The question is what are you going to do with them?

Proper 28A

Transcribed from a sermon given

At St Barnabas Episcopal Church

By Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

November 13, 2011

Six billion. Six billion is a pretty big number. Six billion. That is the number of pieces of information in the human genome. There are that many pieces of information in our DNA and RNA, which is the source and blueprint for our physical bodies. That is a huge amount of information. Also realize that there can be variation in any one of those. Think of all the potential combinations and permutations of six billion pieces of information.

That means that each and every human being is unique. Nobody like you has ever been before and odds are there will never be anyone like you again. And it is not just our genome that determines who we are. Studies have shown that if a woman is under a lot of stress when she is pregnant that that will have effects on the child. Other studies have shown that whether you are the first born or the last born or middle born that changes who you are. And even if you have the genome to be tall, if you don’t get sufficient nutrition when you are growing up you will never grow to that height. So all these different variables, like whether your parents are under stress when you are a child or if they are able to love and care for you or not, all of these different things effect who you are, who you are right now.

And not just things you experienced as a child, but all of the experiences you have had, the wonderful honors and good thing that have happened to you, the struggles, the suffering, the losses, the mistakes all of that is part of what builds who you are right now. And you are unique. Every human being is unique - A unique creation of God. The question is, “What are we going to do with that?” What are we going to do with your uniqueness, the abilities, experiences, and opportunities that no one else has?

The Gospel reading for today is the parable of the ten talents, in which one person is given five, another two and another one. Now a talent back then was not what we use the word talent for today. The word talent, like in America’s Got Talent, or a talent show, that meaning for talent as some special gift that is unique and valued, that meaning came from this parable. The word talent in Jesus’ time was used to describe a source of money. A talent is a piece of silver, and scholars have looked tried to figure out how much a talent would have been worth and estimates vary from six thousand dollars to sixty thousand dollars. So, whatever it was, it was a lot of money. They weren’t given just a quarter; they were given a lot of money to take care of.

And the question is what are they going to do with it. Now the parables always represent other things, and parables can always be interpreted in many different ways. But parable is almost always interpreted as meaning that each one of us has been given by the master, by God, an abundance. Not just a little bit, we have been given and abundance of talent - each one of us.

Now some of us have beautiful voices and sing in the choir. Some of us have voices where we feel like a frog when we try to sing. But there may be some out there who have beautiful voices that aren’t quite sure whether they can actually sing and don’t really want to go out there and try. All of us have some kind of voice, so even if we sound like a frog when we sing our voice can still be beautiful when we tell someone that we love them. It is a gift we have.

There are some people who have an eye for beauty. You know, the kind of person where their clothes always look just right and when you go to their house it is decorated in a way that you never would have thought to decorate things, but it all goes together beautifully. Or perhaps they are an artist and they paint or they draw or they make quilts or they do other beautiful things. They have a talent, an eye for beauty. And some of us just kind of fumble along, doing the best we can, and never quite looking so elegant but we have eyes that we can see the beauty of the earth and we can appreciate the awesomeness of a tree. We can appreciate beauty.

Some of us have brilliant mathematical minds that can add and subtract and multiply and understand logarithms. And other of us are kind of like, “I need my calculator to add this up because I don’t know how to add.” But then there are other ones whose minds are great in terms of speaking. They can get up and they can talk and look like they are not nervous at all while others are shy and scared and just kind of freeze in front of people. It doesn’t matter. We all have different talents and they are all of equal importance.

Sometimes people say, “Well I don’t have any talent. I don’t have much to add.” I was at the symphony last night and it reminded me of a story. There was a rehearsal for the symphony going on and there was one part in this great gigantic symphony where everyone was playing. There were a timpani and a choir and every body was playing really loud so the piccolo player said to himself, “I don’t need to bother with this. Nobody is going to hear me over that.” He stopped playing for a moment. Immediately the conductor stopped everything and said,  “What happened to the piccolo?” You see that little tiny sound of the piccolo was what filled out the whole symphony. Even if you are sitting back in your seat and you don’t know about the piccolo, it is part of the overall sound. The conductor knew this. Sometimes we feel like that little piccolo that doesn’t make any difference, but it matters to the conductor. It matters to God.

Some of us are really good physically. We can go out and work in the garden, we can paint, we can build things, and we do stuff. And some of us have gotten to the point where getting out of bed in the morning and getting dressed is a major effort. We’ve long ago given up trying to work in the garden. But we have a gift in that we can’t get up. Because those people who like to help others need someone to help. Sometimes the greatest gift we give is a willingness to be helped, to be gracious about receiving, because how can others give if there is no one to receive?

We all have different talents, different abilities. In Paul’s letter that we read today he talks about using who we are to build up one another and to encourage one another. In other places Paul writes about spiritual gifts and about how we all have different spiritual gifts but we are one body. Here he is saying that we need to use what we have to encourage one another, to lift one another up.

There is a wonderful thing that has been going on in the Sunday School. It is that different people from the church have been sharing their talents with the children. One time someone goes over there and shows them how to paint watercolors. Her gift for painting is shared with the children and the children come out with a painting that they can feel proud of. And who knows one of those children may decide that they want to develop that gift - that talent. Another person shares wood working, another person quilting, all the different gifts that we have we can share with our children. We can share them with each other. We can lift up and empower each other.

Sometimes the most important gift that we have to share, the most important talent that we have to share, is our own journey, and our own struggles. Most of you have probably read or heard about Steve Jobs great commencement speech which was centered upon talking about his failures and how important his failures were. Sometimes the greatest gift we have to give, sometimes the talent that we have, is our experience. When my husband was in an accident and flat on his back and didn’t know if he was going to walk, he wanted to talk to somebody who had been there. It didn’t help for anybody else to say, “I know how you are feeling.” We didn’t. But there was a friend who had been through that, who did know.

Or when you come home from the doctor with that diagnosis of cancer, if there is someone else who can reach out to you and say, “I’ve been through chemo. It’s hard. You’ll survive. I’ll be there with you.” It makes all the difference in the world.

So sometimes the gift we have is our brokenness. Not necessarily something that we see as our strength. If you are familiar with the twelve step programs you know incredibly powerful work of the twelve steps, but just reading the twelve steps isn’t going to cure you, isn’t going to help. What is so important about twelve step programs is the other people. It is the other people who have messed up, and fallen down and are willing to share their own struggles and their own successes. The gift that they give is of having been on that journey.

We all have gifts and talents and things to offer to the world and to each other. The question is, “What are we going to do with them?” Let’s look at this parable, especially the one who received one talent and who buried it in the ground. The reason he did that is stated clearly. The reason he didn’t develop his talent is because he was afraid. Have you ever been afraid to express your talent? Afraid that if you sing people might make fun of you? Afraid that if you paint you won’t make something pretty? Afraid that if you reach out to that neighbor they won’t want to hear you? Afraid to share the gifts that you have for whatever reasons? There are a million reasons to be afraid. It is our fears that keep us from fully expressing ourselves. It is our fears that keep us from sharing the gift of who we are with others.

I invite you to look at yourself. What do you have to give, to help to build up the community, to help other people? And look at what you are afraid of and to trust that you don’t need to be afraid because Christ is with you.

Amen

Welcome Home - The dinner party

I don't have any sermons for Proper 27A, so I am posting some of my thoughts about making churches welcoming places for new people. Here I look at how one might treat a new friend at a dinner party as an example of how we might want to treat a visitor to church.

Welcome Home

The Party

By Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

November 5, 2014

Imagine that you are hosting a dinner at your home. You have invited a number of friends who have attended your dinner parties in the past and you have also invited a new neighbor who just moved in down the street. Think about how you would treat that new person that you don’t know very well and you are hoping will become a friend. What would want that person experience at your home?

When they get to your house they would see the light on and, weather permitting, the door open or at least ajar. Perhaps they would even find you waiting near the door looking for them.

They would be graciously invited inside. If they had a coat you or one of your friends would take it from them and put it in a safe place. They would be offered a comfortable chair where they could feel part of the gathering, even if one or more of your friends needed to rearrange their seating to provide space. They would be offered something to drink, usually an option such as “Would you like a glass of wine? We also have fruit juice and coffee.” The conversation in the living room would immediately change to include the new member of the party. There would be introductions all around and someone would ask them about themselves, like “Where did you move from?” or “How long have you lived here?” If there was an ongoing conversation the new person might be invited to join by someone saying, “We’ve just been talking about what we are planning to plant in our gardens this spring. Are you planning a garden? We could help you learn what grows best around here.”

When it came time for the meal you would explain any expectations and be sure that the new person was comfortable, even if everyone else knew exactly how things were to be done. For example one might say, “We are having a buffet. You can take one of the plates here and choose what you would like to eat. Don’t forget to pick up the rolled napkin with utensils. There are some little tables over on the other side that you can put in front of your chair.” Or “Please join us at the table. We have a seat saved just for you. Most of us use chop sticks, but I always set out forks as well so that everyone can be comfortable.” Or “Please take this seat next to mine so I can tell you about each dish and what is in it.” Or “We like to pass the food around. First we will pass the tortillas, you can take either the corn or the wheat. Most of us take one of each. Then you put the beans, cheese and whatever else you want in the middle of the tortilla and roll it up. Some like to have the beans and rice on the side. We eat the rolled up tortilla with our hands and use the fork for the rice and beans.” Or “You’ll notice at the place setting that there are a number of utensils. There are two forks because we like to use the small fork for the salad which will be served first and the larger fork for the main dish.”

After dinner all the guests would be invited to stick around for dessert and conversation. Your new neighbor will probably have met several people by this time and your friends should specifically encourage the neighbor to stay. You would keep an eye out to see that your new guest was never left sitting alone. You would bring coffee and dessert to your new friend and be sure that the conversation always included him or her.

When the party was over and your neighbor left you would not be the only one expressing hope that they will come to the next gathering. And they would probably be putting the date on the calendar and looking forward to it.

Let’s contrast this experience with a less hospitable host.

The new neighbor has trouble finding the house. It is dark out and the porch light is not on so they are not sure they are at the right home. They go up to a large heavy, closed door. They are about to ring the doorbell and see a small sign that says “Do not ring bell, just come in.” Hesitantly they open the door. Inside they see a number of people sitting in the living room talking with one another. No one notices the new comers. By the door there is a table with a pile of papers that say welcome and have the menu and schedule for the evening. The chairs are in a circle and all the comfortable ones have been taken. There are a few straight back kitchen chairs behind the others that are empty. In order to get to those chairs the visitor has to push by some of the people who are deep in conversation. The visitor sits quietly in their chair and tries to follow a conversation that has already begun about people they have never met.

When it is time for dinner everyone gets up and goes to the table. They all seem to know exactly what to do, but the new neighbor has no idea what the food is or how to eat it. They look around and try to follow what others are doing, but it is strange food they have never eaten before. Feeling awkward, they eat very little. When dinner is over someone announces time for dessert and all stand up and begin moving toward the basement. The new neighbor takes this as an opportunity to get away from an uncomfortable situation. The host is standing at the door, shakes their hand and says “Thank you for coming I hope you will come again.”

How likely do you think it is that this new neighbor will return?

Have you ever gone to church and had that type of experience?

Every church has people who have the gift of hospitality. They just seem to naturally know how to make someone comfortable in their homes. And all of us know basic manners and how to treat someone we invite to our house. Yet too often those basics are completely forgotten when it comes to Sunday morning. We are so busy greeting our friends, finding our own spiritual nurturance or putting on the liturgy that we forget about the basics of hospitality.

It is not that people don’t know what to do or that the clergy are not trying to get people to respond. I remember attending a fairly large church that was at least three quarters full where the preacher focused that morning on welcoming visitors. He included in his sermon that a friend of his from seminary had come to town to visit and attended church the previous Sunday. He had gone to the coffee hour and no one had spoken to him. The preacher did a good job of explaining why this was a problem so I thought that coffee hour should be pretty welcoming this week.

After the service was over there was an individual who spoke to me and said she hoped I would go to coffee hour and pointed the way. She evidently had something important to do and couldn’t walk me over there. I found my way to the correct hall. There were a fair number of people there, but not as many as I would have expected given the size of the congregation. There was a beautiful spread, with strawberries, crackers and cheese in addition to the usual cookies. I filled up my plate and stood near the food and away from the wall, close to the center of the room. I wondered what would happen. It turns out that after a rather long feeling five minutes no one had spoken to me. Not one! After that sermon, a mature woman could stand for five minutes without a single acknowledgement from anyone. I was amazed.

Of course I have been to other churches where people were extremely welcoming. One community even encouraged me to bring my dog into the coffee hour so she was not left in the car. They even brought her water and dog biscuits.

Take a minute to think about some times when you have attended a church where no one knew you. What was it like? Did it feel good? Perhaps you wanted to be left alone and were glad that no one spoke to you. Perhaps you were on vacation and wanted something short and sweet and out the door. Perhaps you were looking for a church home and found one that first day - or left disappointed

If you are interested in making your church more welcoming I encourage you to go by yourself to a church where you know no one else. If you go with another person, you have each other to talk to and cling to, when you go alone you get to really experience what it is like, for good and/or bad.