Election day lines- cool…
I arrived at 4:45AM to open the doors for election workers at Saint James to find not only early arriving election workers but people beginning to line up for voting. By the time I let election workers in and turned on lights and checked that their coffee and hot water were brewing, I went back outside to unlock our overflow parking gate. As I walked back to the building, I was struck by how a line was already forming of about 100 people, still about 30 minutes before the polls were to open! In my normal Jamesian way, I kidded with the folks in line that this was just the way every Sunday morning was at Saint James with people lining up hours before to get into worship. I am not sure their bleary eyes showed any appreciation for my lighthearted jibe.
I began to wonder why we don’t have folks lining up for worship an hour before it happens. Is it because we only have to line up to vote every four years (in a General Election anyway) and worship is an every Sunday event? Is it simply more compelling to be part of a democratic process and let one’s voice be heard than listening hopefully, expectantly for the voice of God while giving honor and praise to God? Is it that worship is simply not compelling enough itself no matter where you go? I’ll be honest (the theme from last week’s worship message) in saying I don’t know the answers. I read a lot about what keeps people from having real interest in church- how many times can you take being told how bad you are and how bad your neighbors are and how the world is simply a bad place? How do we reconcile that message with the beauty we see, the love we feel, the people we meet (at least some of them?)? Church just doesn’t seem interested sometimes in anything but its own voice and not that of others struggling to figure out if life has any meaning and if so, what it is.
It is always my hope that we will model a kind of faith inquiry at Saint James that welcomes all people wherever they are and will encourage that inquiry while at the same time speaking our own stories in a non-judgmental/non-apologetic way.
Anyway, I guess I’ll look forward to the day people line up to get in for worship…
