Ours is a small church by city standards, large enough in the small-town measure.Prickly....................................................Planted
If we can survive the journey of finding God in the fishbowl setting of a small community, perhaps it means any church can.
Before I chronicle our journey of the last nineteen years, I share a general hand-me-down story that introduces my conclusion that God does not automatically reside in every church:
A young man in tattered clothes began to ponder attending church, and arrived one Sunday morning at this particular church. At the end of the service, a well-dressed deacon approached the young man and said, "Son, I would like for you to ask Jesus this week what the appropriate dress for our church would be."
"Yes sir, I will do that."
On the following Sunday, still dressed in his tattered clothes (as that was all he had), he was once again confronted by the deacon at the end of the service. "Son, I thought I told you to ask Jesus what you should wear to our church. You must not have done what I asked."
"But, sir, I did."
"Well," said the deacon, "What did he say?'
"He said he couldn't tell me since he has never been to your church."The God of invitation waits to be invited, even into churches. I am convinced of that.
Tomorrow: how Prickly invites God out.
