New Life: Part 2

Today I led a worship service at a retirement community. It wasn’t a first. From sometime in 2002 until March of 2008 I was there at least once a month and for several years, twice a month. When I retired last April, I stopped going. I really believed my work there was an extension of my parish work and that it essentially belonged to the parish to continue it. It didn’t.

A year passed and just before Lent began one of the regular worshippers called and asked if I would return. There had been no worship and no Communion since I left. They had tried to get a clergy to show some interest, but it hadn’t happened. I said yes. Today was my third time in this new sequence. And there was something different about today I want to share.

But first, let me tell you what it’s like. At its peak, attendance was about 17 or 18. Because most residents are older, now and then there would be a death or a transfer to a nursing home and somebody new would wander in to replace them. The number was steady, but then began to slowly decline. By March of 2008, the attendance was about 12 or 13. The truth is I didn’t and don’t really care how many come.

The make up of worshippers is a mixture of Episcopalians, United Methodists, Presbyterians, some Catholics, and now and then a Baptist or two. Most are women. A couple are on walkers, one or two on canes, and some just move slowly. There is a kind of core group of five or six who are there every time. It was this group who got together and asked me to return. The administration of the Community is supportive, even happy for me to be there.

I began this time, I agreed to come once a month. But as I thought about it, I felt drawn to go more often. I know how important it is for me to worship and to take the sacrament and I felt that from these folks too. When I went for the first time in April, I told them I’d be willing to come twice a month if they wanted it. And they did. Today was my second time this month.
When I met with them a couple of weeks ago to see if they wanted twice a month, I was a little surprised by their enthusiasm for it—and humbled too. They vowed they would work to build the community so “it’d be worth my time.” And then today arrived and as worship began we had 17 souls, at least a third of whom were first time attendees.

How’d it happen? They put up notices in the usual spots, of course, but mostly they went table to table, person to person at dinner last evening and breakfast today inviting, encouraging, and promising something good would happen if people came. Coincidentally with this, I’m writing lectures for my upcoming class in the Early Church History. How did a rag tag bunch of 20 or 30 believers manage to start and sustain a world wide religion? Going table to table, person to person, and promising, that’s how.

How was attendance at your church last Sunday? As we read reports in the news magazines and newspapers about how Christianity is on the decline in this country and church attendance is at an all time low, we might wonder what it would take to change that. We have a couple of good models to consider.

Peace,

Jerry+