The General is transforming the files upstairs. This project has filled her day for the past five days. She mentioned yesterday that she hasn't done needlepoint is a week and she is ready for her helping me with files to be over. That being …
The General is transforming the files upstairs. This project has filled her day for the past five days. She mentioned yesterday that she hasn't done needlepoint is a week and she is ready for her helping me with files to be over. That being said, she's not cutting any corners. She's taking the initiative to ensure that I lay my eyes on the contents of three filing cabinets and determine what to keep and what to throw away. If a decision is made to keep the information, she wants to know how I want it labeled. Nothing goes into the filing cabinet without a folder and a label.
The project began to ensure all my work-related files are in order, but she didn't want to limit the exercise to my work files. She wanted everything is our three filing cabinets to be orderly and easy to locate.
She finally agreed that sermons can be filed together under the general heading of sermons. For the last ten years or so, I didn't print my sermon notes, I accessed them with my iPad and find it easy. Unfortunately, when my computer crashed last year, I lost ten years of sermon material.
As a rule of thumb, if my sermon notes were hand-written they went in file thirteen. My eyes are old and my writing has never be that legible. If my notes were written on a computer and printed, they are being filed away for someone else to toss.
In quickly scanning notes, I read: "A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned in a text message to a friend that I am pleased to be a part of our family of faith. She responded: "It must be nice to go to a church where everyone knows your name." She then added: "That sounds like a line from Cheers." That put a smile on my face! "Where Everybody Knows Your Name," is the theme song for the 1980s sitcom "Cheers".
Chuck Swindoll made this observation in one of his books at about the same time: "The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit that there is to the fellowship Christs wants us to give his church. It's an imitation, dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality – but it is a permissive, accepting and inclusive fellowship. It is unshockable. It is democratic. You can tell people secrets and they usually don't tell others or even want to. The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics, but because God has put in the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved, and so many seek a counterfeit at the price of a few beers".
Our church doesn't always get it right, but it is an inclusive fellowship. We operate on the principal that God is love and we good-naturedly and intuitively reach out to others to make them feel welcomed. The over-riding spirit of our fellowship is one of inclusiveness and support.
I like going to church where everyone knows your name.
No comments:
Post a Comment