"It's Where It Is" (I love the fellowship I serve!)

 

Last Sunday there were 14 people at the gathering at Refuge. 14. 
Now we're a small fellowship to begin with (maybe 50-souls total) and on any given Sunday we average about 33 all heads counted. But this past Sunday only 14 were in the house as the service convened (and really, only 10 as the remaining 4 didn't roll into until about thirty minutes in).

Where was everybody? Well, it's summer and most of our crew were squeezing in a last vacation before fall sports at the high school kick into full gear a few days from now. Others were visiting family. One of our guys – a farmer – was out in the field dealing with a blown irrigator. One family stayed home to nurse a sick puppy. And one other guy from the fellowship was returning from a three-week ministry trip in the Philippines. Which left 14 of us to gather like the Whos in Whoville on Christmas morning after the Grinch had robbed them blind.

In our weekly electronic newsletter, I sent all who were absent a letter that I think bears re-printing here for reasons I'll explain later (what's more I never know who actually opens up the newsletter and they may see it for the first time here):

Dear Cody, Kayla, Ezra, Troy, Jim, Jessica, Camila, Angi, Roci, Liam, Sam, David, Paula, Emily, Olivia, Josh, Caroline, Kenny, Serenity, Emerson, Linda, Charlie, Maggie, Duane, Kale, Renee, Tim, Heather, Dakoda, Maddie, Logan and TJ:

We gathered together in the sanctuary this past Sunday morning just as we always do and had church without you. We certainly missed your presence and understood that everyone was traveling, vacationing and "on assignment" elsewhere. But we had church all the same and it was GREAT! (Really!)

(Stock Refuge photo)

What made it great? Well, a number of things. While Kale is usually the “First Sunday”-guy he was out of town so I “pinched-hit” for him. After the first short song-set, we did the “meet-and-greet” as we always do despite that there were only 10 of us present (the additional 4 hadn't arrived yet). Recall that on First Sundays, we normally reverse-order things so that we look to the Word first before we worship before the Table. So Monica suggested we call an audible and circle up at the front of the sanctuary (which provoked me to give thanks for the thousandth time that we have chairs and not pews in the sanctuary) and simply go around and hear from everyone (or, at least everyone who wanted to share) about highs and lows, praises and prayers. And during the next 45 minutes that followed we were reminded that God is REAL. 

Since she suggested it, Monica went first. She shared that they had been in need of a new car for some time now but that she and her husband, Austin, were on different pages as to how to go about purchasing one. Finally, Austin insisted that "instead of arguing about it let's pray about it".  They did. Within a short time of that prayer (say a week or two later) a literal check came in the mail. Remember last year when Monica fell at school and had to undergo surgery? Unexpectedly, the Workman's Comp check (to the tune of $15K) came in just when they needed it. The way Monica put it at first she resisted paying the new car off entirely but then she realized how foolish that was given how God had just answered their prayer for money. So they put it all down and a day or two later an additional check (this time for $8K) arrived in the mail (the remaining amount of the settlement). I'd say that was for their family it was a red letter day (well, actually two days!) Plus, with the additional money they received they put a thousand dollars into their old van and gifted it to a family in our fellowship who needed one.

That brought up the camp story Kale and the kids had shared the
week before. How that on the way to camp the van broke down. While Kale literally stood at the side of Highway 53 holding up his jumper cables in hopes of attracting a Good Samaritan, Emily rounded up the crew inside the van to pray and 10 minutes later a traveling angel pulled up behind them. He not only jump-started the van but then followed Kale and crew to the auto parts store in Spooner and then helped Kale install the alternator that they needed with the tools he had in his truck. Total loss of time? Perhaps an hour and a half. While they did miss the bus they were supposed to catch in Cloquet they have a great story to share (and made it to camp anyway!)

Both Randy, Dave F and LeAnne shared about their new jobs, Sandy was thankful for the neighbor who had come to her house and cut

My mom is pretty amazing

 and weed-wacked her lawn (her lawn mower has gone to mower-heaven this spring). Dennis shared about how his son, Travis, had volunteered himself and his other son, Nate, to help the neighbor across the way build the interior walls of his new house - a timely gesture given that the guy who was supposed to do it was one of the two individuals who had tragically drowned in Lake Pokegama Friday night. Of course, I shared about my 87-year-old mom who had fallen and fractured her pelvis and her radius and yet a few days later they already had her discharged from the hospital and recovering at a rehab facility. All this to say we had A LOT to be thankful for. 

I decided to go ahead and share the message I had prepared (Jeremiah 17:5-8) but did it like I am wont to do it when I conduct my monthly worship service at the county jail - more like a conversation that included both the grey-heads and the "littles" (James, Kaylee, Lara and Korynn). James, who will be a junior in high school this year, gave a good exhortation to all of us:

"We don't do things because they're fun; we do them because they're hard" and reminded us all that when the feelings of camp or OneFest fade (as they always do) we have to always live by the Word (good word, James!)

We then prayed for one another - for Duane's safe return from the

Thank God for good leaders

Philippines, for Monica's upcoming job interview, for my mom's ongoing recovery, for wisdom for Troy and Tina given how bad the growing season has been and other needs expressed. After this I led one more worship song followed by Randy, one of our elders, leading us to the table and administering communion. 

So you were all missed but as long as there were more than three of us present we made quorum and I'm certain that Jesus was THERE. I'm already looking forward to THIS Sunday and looking forward to seeing you all!

We love and miss you!

Pastor Jeff for Austin, Monica, James, Randy, Dave, LeAnne, Kaylee, Lara, Korynn, Dennis, Sandy, Lois, and Tina

The folks here think I should have
one of these at the end of my message.

So why share this with a greater audience (okay, it won't be that much greater than what is already on the E-line subscription list)? For this simple reason: a gathering like last Sunday should be a reminder to all of us that church is not a show, it's not a high-energy concert complete with smoke and lights and a count-down clock running on the sanctuary wall. No, it's people gathering together in Jesus' name to worship him, hear from him, pray for each other and encourage one another plain and simple. It's the family of believers in a given location who after a week of work and play and giving themselves to the stuff of their lives, walk the beaten path back to the sanctuary at the corner of 8^th and Leonard to testify of God's goodness or find creative ways to bless one another.

My friend, Jim, is a pastor in Minneapolis. Both of us have served in our locations for over thirty years now. The on-going joke between us is that he lives and serves in the 'hood' and I do the same 'in the wood'. Both places are rife with sin and troubles and heartache but God is in the midst of us reminding us (as he did so demonstratively this past Sunday) that he is with us.

I love that moment in the 1990 blockbuster movie, Dances With Wolves, when the mule skinner Timmons tasked at driving Lt. John Dunbar pulls up at the remains of what was Fort Sedgwick and spits. And then laconically drawls, “Ain't much of a goin' concern.” Exactly. This is what perhaps some folk might say about pulling up to Refuge on any given Sunday morning – especially when we can only count 14 present. “Ain't much of a goin' concern.” But that's only because they don't have eyes to see what God sees: the gathering of saints-in-the-making who are ever so slowly and steadily learning how to love God and each other by “doing life” together.

That's why we keep showing up Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. Not because it's exciting (honestly, it rarely is). Not because the incredible parsing of the Word (yeah, I'm not that good). But because first and foremost we are a family of God gathering with the Father of lights to know him and each other better. And by doing so something good and life-giving comes from it.

See you on Sunday!

It's a pretty good group!