Never Again?

Each year the Rotarians of the Town of Vienna (where my church is) hold a street festival named “Viva Vienna.” My church has a booth at this festival where we give out information about our church, homemade baked treats, lemonade, and prizes for kids, as a way of getting the name of our church before people and inviting them to come hear the Word of God. It makes for a very long and difficult weekend for me, getting everything together and helping man the booth and meet people. And every year I come home exhausted and with a headache and say “Never again!”

And then each year, we do it again.

Why? Where else can you meet thousands of people in just two days? Where else can people see (and ask!) about the name of your church and you get to talk about Christianity and the Nicene Creed? Where else can you tell so many people so quickly about what Lutherans believe and what makes us different? Where else could we give away so many Good News magazines, pro-life information, books, Portals of Prayers, devotionals, and talk to people from ages 2 to 82?

I just wish it was on a different weekend. For on Memorial Day weekend businesses are busy, folks travel, many have family plans, and it makes recruiting workers for the booth harder. I also wish I could have the day to go to a Memorial Day parade and picnic again. And relax. Maybe someday my church will be big enough to allow me to do that. In the meantime, yes, I will be grumpy at the end of another long day, and yes, I will probably say “never again!” And yes, we will do it again. And I remember Paul’s admonition to Timothy: “Do the work of an evangelist.” (2 Tim 4:5)

You were right Paul. It is hard work.