Don't Try This at Home
Excerpt from Psalm 111:1
"Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation."
Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver
This fall, a beloved saint in our congregation, Marjorie Scoboria, died just short of her 104th birthday. The Sunday before her death she was in her usual spot in the congregation in the fourteenth row on the left. (Did you think we preachers don't notice that sort of thing?) She was offering her witty little quips to those around her, standing for the hymns. In other ways, however, she was limited in how she could participate. In recent years, her eyesight and her hearing were almost completely gone, but she continued to come to worship every Sunday. When I asked Marjorie about that (after all, if I were over a hundred years old, I think I would stay in bed every once in a while), she looked surprised by the question, and replied, "Because I need to be in the congregation with the people."
Woody Allen famously said, "Ninety percent of life is just showing up." But he's wrong. Ninety percent of life is showing up over and over again.
People sometimes speak of "going to church" on Sunday morning, as the church had some kind of existence without the people, or as if it were a building.
We all know the children's game, "Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people." That may be a good game, but it is bad theology. As Marjorie knew so well, the church is the people. So you have to show up. It's not a church until you get there.
Prayer
God, thank you for the saints in our congregations—the ones who show us how it is done.
Excerpt from Psalm 111:1
"Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation."
Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver
This fall, a beloved saint in our congregation, Marjorie Scoboria, died just short of her 104th birthday. The Sunday before her death she was in her usual spot in the congregation in the fourteenth row on the left. (Did you think we preachers don't notice that sort of thing?) She was offering her witty little quips to those around her, standing for the hymns. In other ways, however, she was limited in how she could participate. In recent years, her eyesight and her hearing were almost completely gone, but she continued to come to worship every Sunday. When I asked Marjorie about that (after all, if I were over a hundred years old, I think I would stay in bed every once in a while), she looked surprised by the question, and replied, "Because I need to be in the congregation with the people."
Woody Allen famously said, "Ninety percent of life is just showing up." But he's wrong. Ninety percent of life is showing up over and over again.
People sometimes speak of "going to church" on Sunday morning, as the church had some kind of existence without the people, or as if it were a building.
We all know the children's game, "Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people." That may be a good game, but it is bad theology. As Marjorie knew so well, the church is the people. So you have to show up. It's not a church until you get there.
Prayer
God, thank you for the saints in our congregations—the ones who show us how it is done.
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