Dear Middletown Reformed Church Family and Friends,
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
A while back I went to pick up a prescription at CVS. I was wearing my clerical collar as I had just come from a visitation with one of our members. The person who was helping me at the counter asked if I was a minister and where my church was. I took the opportunity to tell her all about MRC — how we welcome all people, that it is a congregation committed to loving God and neighbor, where we are located, and when we worship. She told me it had been a while since she had been in church and she was really wanting to get back to worship. I welcomed her to come anytime and that she would be met with arms wide open.
We are ambassadors for Christ, who reconciles and makes whole. We are the salt of the earth; we are the light of the world (RCA liturgy for the Profession of Faith).
I left CVS smiling and happy that I was given the opportunity to share God’s love with her. It got me thinking about all the ways we as ambassadors for Christ may offer a bit of our salt and light to those whom God puts in our path through chance encounters.
A conversation at CVS
Eating at a favorite restaurant
Walking down the aisle of a grocery store
Talking with volunteers at a summer camp
Sitting in the lobby of a doctor’s office
Taking a walk in the park
I wonder, who will God send to you who desires to hear about the Gospel of Love? Who will need to feel the welcome of Jesus through the light you shine? How will you bring your Jesus-zest to a chance encounter with a stranger who may then become a neighbor? Oh, we never know how the Holy Spirit will show up through us. But, I will encourage you to do this — pay attention — because that Holy Spirit is always on the move and up to holy mischief.
Come and bring your salt and light selves to worship this Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Our topic for the Sermons of the People summer series is sibling rivalry. Tom will lead us in our hymns and sing the Anthem “Wayside.” I am preaching from Luke 15.1-2, 11-32 and my sermon title is Who Is The Golden Child?
Months after that encounter, I was at CVS again but this time without my collar and I had the same person help me. I was surprised when she said, “Where is your church again? I really do need to come.” She had remembered our first encounter but I certainly didn’t expect her to do so. So far, she hasn’t been to worship, but I hope to welcome her one day soon. Until then, I’m going to keep being salt and light for Jesus at our local CVS, and anywhere else I am called to go.
In gratitude for the privilege of being your pastor and the holy call of loving you,
Pastor Trish