I was told this story a couple of years after I began my ministry at Calvary, and if you’ve heard it before, don’t stop me – it won’t take long. The man telling the story was a retired pastor whose father had also been a pastor in our area in the 1930s. The Depression was over and things were beginning to look up, economically speaking. The man’s father had taken a call at a fairly prosperous church and was visiting the members, starting with the “shut-ins”. I don’t like that term, but in this case, it is appropriate. He knocked on a door, communion carrying case in hand, and a woman in her 50s answered the door. “I’m here to give your mother Communion” he said, to which she responded in a nervous voice, “She isn’t here – she’s at the hairdresser.” “Oh!”, he replied, “I thought she was a shut-in!” The daughter was embarrassed, so he said his good-byes and left.
The pastor went directly to the hairdresser to meet this miraculous person who was no longer a shut-in and found her in the process of having her hair dried under one of those giant, noisy machines that looked like alien helmets. Since she didn’t know him, the woman ignored his attempts to speak to her. Finally, since he wouldn’t go away, she shut the machine off – just as he was yelling, “YOU ARE ON MY SHUT-IN LIST, SO I CAME TO BRING YOU COMMUNION! I’m glad you are feeling better.” The woman looked around with some anxiety and replied, “I will see you on Sunday.” And, surprisingly, she did. Every week until she died.
I am sure that every pastor has had their share of people who are “Sunday morning shut-ins.” We stop by to visit, only to find an empty house. I dutifully leave a note, and when the phone call comes, it is often with an apology that goes something like, “I was out to lunch with a friend. I don’t drive, so she picked me up.” I will often ask them if that same friend (often a church member, too) couldn’t pick her up for church too.” Crickets. It’s one thing if you have a doctor’s appointment or go out for a holiday, but when someone is absent from their home more than once when I call, I rejoice that they are not, in fact, a shut-in.
Tell the truth. Don’t tell me you will definitely be in church when you have no intention to do so. We can still be friends, but I will miss your presence in worship. Don’t tell me you aren’t coming because of the pandemic and then post something about a concert you went to. Just be honest. Truth-telling (like this) can make people uncomfortable, but not telling the truth will make them sad, angry, and disappointed. I know that is how I feel when I am lied to. We don’t want you in church because you are a cog; we want you there because you are part of the family, and when family members go missing, they leave a hole in our hearts. That is the truth.
Prayer – We are grateful to You, God, for our communities of faith. May they continue to do Your work of love and compassion every day. Amen.
Today’s art is a church on the river Danube by Tibor Kincses.