Dear Church Family,
All I wanted to do was save some time.
I had offered to pick up some coffee for the office staff. As I exited Pico and was about to pull into the Starbucks near the offramp, I realized I’d forgotten my lunch.
Thinking I could kill two birds with one stone, I drove to Albertson’s, which has a Starbucks inside. I would purchase both my lunch and some happiness for the office.
As I went to the dairy aisle, my favorite cottage cheese was the only brand missing from the shelf. But I was in luck: workers were stocking the shelves right in front of me! I asked, and one of them said, “We have some in the back.” Five minutes later he arrived with four individual serving cups rather than the one-pint tub I was looking for. “We don’t have the one you want,” he said, “but tell the checker that Josh says to charge you the tub price.”
The checker believed me, I paid, and having no bag I simply balanced my four little cups on top of one another to carry them away.
On to Starbucks. When I arrived at the counter, the employee took my order. Of course, my regular brew was out so he had to make a new pot. Five minutes later, when it was finally ready, I faced a new problem: how do I carry two drinks and four cups of cottage cheese? Carefully balancing two cottage cheeses on each drink, I made my way outside and into the rain. Halfway to my truck, one of them hit the pavement.
Twenty minutes after I decided to “save some time,” I wasn’t sure I had saved any time at all. And, to top it off, now I was pretty grumpy.
Then I pulled into the church parking lot. One of our amazing church members was there, dropping off beans and rice for our Border Ministry collection. Someone who had gone out of their way for neighbors they will likely never meet. So, I set down my coffee-and-cottage-cheese balancing act and helped carry the food inside. Somewhere between the car and the door, my grumpiness melted. I thought this is what being the church is about.
Being the church isn’t about saving time or finding the most efficient way to purchase my lunch and coffee. It’s about working together to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus never promised we would save time. He asked us to be love and build the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
And just in case I missed the point, God confirmed it when I made it back to my office. Each day, I try to begin with a bit of scripture reading. Today’s passage included Philippians 1:3-6:
I thank my God for every remembrance of you, 4 always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy 5 for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. [NRSV]
Partnership in the gospel. That’s what I saw in the parking lot: a church member, a bag of beans, a bag of rice, and a whole congregation sharing good news with families at the border. No matter how our days go, we can be confident that the God who began this good work in us will carry it on to completion.
Thank you for being a church that loves and serves. Thank you for following Jesus with me on this journey of life. And when you come this Sunday for worship and Trunk or Treat, bring a bag of beans or a bag of rice, and drop it in our collection barrels as we continue our partnership in the gospel.
With God’s Peace,
Pastor Karl
