September 23, 2022
I seem to be repeating myself. And it seems I have little control over it.
Chaplain Greg Asimakoupoulos of Covenant Shores puts together a weekly Evensong service which he posts online. More than once I have found myself “preaching” in this service —meaning, Greg found some video of me from Fuller or here at First Cov, and inserted it into this service. Most recently, he repurposed my sermon from July 10, this past summer, for this week’s Evensong video. That particular Sunday the gospel text was the parable of the “good Samaritan.” It was interesting for me to hear that sermon again at this time, as I have been thinking a lot about “being a good neighbor.”
In the past few weeks, we have had any number of new people come through the doors of our church to our worship service. This past week there were so many that I didn’t have time to introduce myself to them before they left. We have had people who are new to our country and city, who came to Seattle for a job. We have had people who a looking for a church with “biblical preaching.” We have had people who just are looking for a church. Some say they are wanting to put their life back together. Others want to “reconnect to God.” Some come desperate for help, and needing assistance, while others have come wanting to support a church with their service or finances as a way of getting “back on the path,” as one put it. These have been women and men, younger and older, single and coupled, as well as healthy and physically or mentally challenged. Their stories, their ethnicities, their connection to the Christian faith are wide ranging. These are the people that are choosing (or, is God leading?) to come to our church. All this has made me reflect on what it means for our church to be a good neighbor to those who live in and around our church’s neighborhood, especially when they choose to enter our church.
Those reflections amplify my own words from my sermon of July 10, “I don’t have to think, personally, very far back in my past few days, of the people I have seen in need, that I decided didn’t deserve my attention, didn’t deserve my efforts, didn’t get my best. And I am probably not alone. There is no shortage of people around this church, in this city, lying by the side of the road needing help. And they become scenery rather than people. It is a challenge to live into Jesus’ words to “go and do the same.” But it is the challenge that we have been presented. That’s a bit close to home for me right now. Those people are not just outside our church. Those people have come into our church. And their presence among us raises the question of what sort of neighbor we will be to them and to others that have not yet come into our church but might soon.
Our church gathers in a historic building on the corner Bellevue and Pike, an intersection whose character has changed many times in the past century or so, and continues to do so. As long as we are here, we declare ourselves a neighbor to this community. That includes the people who have apartments and condos near us, own or work in businesses near us, as well as those who find themselves much less fortunate than those who have employment or stable housing here. What does it look like to call all these people to join us in our community of faith? How much would this change our identity as a church?
Now I confess, these observations may be old hat for many of you who have seen this church and its neighborhood through decades of transformation. But as one who is still growing into the role of being the pastor and spiritual leader of this community, this question stops me dead in my tracks. How do we best determine our priorities and allocate our resources when there are so many opportunities for, and various types of, ministries before us? This is an especially difficult question when we have a fairly limited capacity, given our church’s size.
I invite you to pray for me as I pray for discernment on where God might be leading us. I also invite you to pray with me in this season of discernment, that we might consider together what God is doing in our midst, and how we might align ourselves with God’s activity in and through our church. Might we be the church—and neighbor—that God is calling us to be in the season that is now before us.
I also invite you, in an abrupt change of topic and tone, to pick up any tickets you have purchased for the October 2 Mariners game this Sunday or next Sunday. We have physical tickets for all who purchased tickets in the Narthex. If you requested tickets but have not yet paid, you may still pay through our BREEZE portal or pay with a check when you pick up your tickets. We do have one extra pair of tickets which are available for purchase this Sunday or next Sunday. If for some reason you cannot go or do not need all your tickets, there may be people who would like to take them off your hands. Please let Cinda Madonna know if you either have tickets available, or you lack tickets, and we will try our best to accommodate. Thank you all for your enthusiastic response to this event.
In the 4th inning, “WELCOME FIRST COVENANT CHURCH SEATTLE” will be on the Jumbotron. I wonder who that message might bring through the doors of the church? Maybe history will repeat itself many times over in the weeks ahead.
Pastor Todd