A Challenge

One of the challenges I face with the current church that our Lord has entrusted to my pastoral care is distance - the members of my church live so very, very far apart, and often, very, very far from the church. I have folks that drive over an hour on Sunday mornings for the Divine Service.

One the one hand, that is inspiring! The desire and belief that it is important to attend a Lutheran Church that is confessional in what we believe, confess, teach, and practice causes these people to come from so far and sacrifice to get here. Yet on the other hand, the distance means that Sunday morning is often the only time many can be with us. They live too far away for midweek services, midweek Bible studies, and other service and fellowship opportunities.

Now, certainly, the Divine Service is the central thing, and these folks are living out their Christian vocations in their homes and workplaces. One need not be at church many times a week to be a good Lutheran or a good Christian! In fact, being too often at church may take a person away from their other vocations, which would not be good. Being a father to the children God has given you is just as important (if not more important) than being at a meeting at church during the week!

The difficulty, I think, is in building a sense of community with such a group; that they are, together, the Body of Christ in this place. With a more local, neighborhood church, I think that must be a bit easier, though our modern day individualistic mindset militates against it. But when you only see your brothers and sisters in Christ for such a short time each week, and then drive so far home, I think it can seem like you live on an island so very, very far away.

This means that the times we get together are most important, that we use other means of developing this sense of community, and that it is important to work hard to maintain it - and not assume it will always be there. Do I succeed at that? Well, probably yes and no. What creates even more difficulty is the frequency at which people come and go also. I think this is a problem everywhere these days, but especially here in the metro DC area. Military and government workers routinely cycle in and out, and high tech people come and go with their jobs and assignments.

The people God has led to our congregation are the best. I love them dearly. I pray that God enables me to serve them well and provide what they need.