So, Renee and I were watching another Hallmark movie last night [don’t judge - lots of us have done things during this Corona Quarantine that we won’t necessarily put on our resumes]. And yes, the basic plotline was similar to another [or several other] Hallmark movie[s]; we had a good idea how things were going to end up for the main characters.
But, what was interesting to me was a little sub-plot that was going on beneath the main storyline. The lead female character was friends with the Pastor of her church and his wife. They set her up on a blind double date with a man who was another member of their church. It was clear they had never met at church. There was no hint that either of them were new members of this church.
My immediate assumption was that they must attend a mega-church, or at least a church with a big building and many members where the chances of meeting a specific person are small. But later in the movie, they were all sitting in the church, listening to a sermon, and, to my shock, it was clear that this was a small church in a small building – less than 100 people were present. How was it possible that these two people had never met before at church? How was it possible that they did not know each other?
One possibility is that either one, or the other, or maybe both of them, were infrequent church-attenders. I have seen statistics which indicate that, in the days BC [Before Corona], the “average” [as opposed to either the “active” or the “fringe”] church member in the United States attended church services 1.5 times per month. Yes, you read that right – 1.5 times PER MONTH!
Think that’s scary? Listen to this: according to Thom Ranier, the former president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, “20 years ago, a church member was considered active if he or she attended three times a week. Today, a church member is considered active in the church if he or she attends three times a month.” [See Christianity Today Blog Forum, “Church Attendance Patterns Are Changing”, by Karl Vaters, May 2, 2018]. Statistically speaking, the people in the Hallmark movie might have never attended the same service, and thus would not have met.
I am grateful that TOCC has many members who are defying the statistical odds. Who wants to be a statistic anyway? Who wants to be “average” or “fringe”?
The other [to me even scarier] possibility for why the two Hallmark movie characters had never met at church is that the church they attended must not have placed a high value on its members developing any kind of relationship with one another. It took me several attempts to write that sentence because it is such a foreign, and horrible, concept to me. It goes against everything we stand for at TOCC. It goes against everything The Lord has called His Church to be. And it goes against the very thing that not only makes us stronger, but also makes us joyful. We are called to love one another, but we cannot follow this “simple” command if we do not make it a priority to know one another on a level that goes far beyond the surface.
The shepherds cannot require anyone to “be friendly”. That must come from inside of you, from the gentle urgings of The Holy Spirit. I am so grateful for our members at TOCC who followed the leadership of The Spirit and made it their mission, in the BC days, to meet and greet and show true love for all of the Family of God at this place. You inspire me to follow in your footsteps.
But suddenly, the Corona Quarantine took away from us the opportunity to be together, and the opportunity to know and love one another. OK. So what are you doing now to pick up the slack in this, perhaps the most important of the things we are called to as The Body of Christ, during this strange moment in history? What are you doing, intentionally, to maintain, and even to build upon, the friendship and camaraderie and love – the Communion of Saints – while we are separated physically? Once again, I am so grateful to those of you who are stepping up in creative ways to keep us all bound together in the bonds of love during our time of separation. You are amazing!
Best of all, because of all of you amazing servants of God, both BC and now, and in the days ahead when we finally can return to some form of meeting together, I am confident that our little church will never be like the one on that Hallmark movie. I am confident that we will keep on knowing, and loving one another, in many wonderful ways, to the glory of God.
~Shepherd Ambrose Ramsey
