To the people of Christ Church,

The September GOOD NEWSletter. Summer is gone. Such sad words. But September is also
exciting in that our Church “program” gets back into full swing; vacations are winding down and things get back to “normal.” 

    I was reading a devotion about how churches welcome people into their fellowship. We all think we are friendly, but sometimes we are not as friendly as we think. 

    Does the church - does Christ Church of Yorkana - welcome strangers as it ought to welcome them? Does a stranger feel a stranger when they enter the church, or do they feel they have come among friends? 

    One of the great tributes that Homer paid to one of his characters was: “He dwelt in a house at the side of the road, and he was the friend of wayfaring men.” Can we really say that about the church? 

    One of the strange, disturbing features of many churches is the “possession” of pews by their members. Of course, I know at Christ Church none of us feel that we have a “special” pew - there is just a certain spot we always sit, right? I would hope that a visitor to Christ Church would never be given the impression that they are sitting in someone’s spot. Believe it or not it has happened in some places! It should always be a question of Christian kindliness to the stranger in a strange place. 

    Does the church -does Christ Church of Yorkana - welcome shy people as it ought to welcome them? There are far more shy people in this world than we realize. It is possible that when people move and stop going to church that they stop because they are too shy to go to a new place. 

    Surely we ought to meet people halfway. Surely we ought to try to get alongside them better than we do. Surely we ought to make the family of God the one place where shyness can be defeated. Is our church a place where we make an effort to welcome?  

    Does the church - does Christ Church of Yorkana - welcome sinners as it ought to welcome them? 

    Hugh Redwood tells a terrible story. There was a woman in the dock district of London. She associated with a Chinese and bore him a half-caste child. She found her way to a women’s meeting in a certain church, taking her child with her. She liked it and she came back. She came back a third time. Then the leader of the group came up to her. Awkward and  embarrassed the leader said to her: “I’m sorry but I must ask you not to come to this meeting again.” “Why can’t I come?” she said. The leader responded, “The other women know about you, and they say that, if you keep on coming, they will stop.”  The woman looked at the leader with poignant sorrow on her face. “I know I’m a sinner but isn’t there anywhere a sinner can go?”

     It is not a question of taking sin lightly, but it is a question of remembering that Jesus said, “Him that cometh unto me I will no wise cast out.” 

    As September comes to us and as some visitors come into our building, I hope that we welcome them! Indeed, we should all be part of the “welcoming” committee.

Joy and Peace,

Rev. Forrest "Bud" Bish