The newspaper column by Andy Rooney, resident curmudgeon of CBS television, does not appear in the New Orleans paper but I found it today in the Baton Rouge Advocate. Rooney thought we’d like to see what he shared Wednesday at the memorial service for Walter Cronkite at the Avery Fisher Hall in the Lincoln Center.
Two stories from that have special meaning for us.
The first illustration…
Rooney says he and his wife were often invited to go sailing with Walter and Betsy Cronkite. “Once while we were sailing in Maine several years ago, we tied up near a little village and Walter and Betsy went into a country store.”
“This strange-looking character comes up to Walter and asks him a question. Walter was always polite to his fans and, with Betsy standing there, Walter said, “Oh sure. We’ve met several times . We’re not really close friends. I talk to him once in a while.”
Outside, Betsy said, “Walter, did you hear who he asked you about?” And Walter, who was hard of hearing answered,”No, I didn’t.” She said, “Well, he asked if you knew Jesus Christ.”
(What if it turned out that that accidental answer was the real one? Let’s hope he knew Jesus well and is in His presence at this very moment.)
And then the second Cronkite story.
Rooney says, “Another time, while sailing close to the shore, Walter was steering his boat when he saw someone on shore waving his arms. He waved back smiling and kept going.”
“In another 30 seconds, we hit bottom. Walter looked around and said, ‘What just happened?’ I replied, ‘Didn’t you hear what that guy was yelling? He was yelling, ‘LOW WATER.'”
“Walter looked at me and said, ‘I thought he was saying, ‘HELLO WALTER.'”
You can get in all kinds of trouble if you do not listen or if you are hard of hearing.
Some of us have no hearing problems, but we’re just preoccupied with other things. Interesting how we can be so intent on something–the football game, a novel, the computer, whatever–that we completely tune out all distractions.
God, give us that kind of focus on holy things.
Third illustration.
A week ago tonight I was sketching people at the pastor’s home, a half block down the street. Mike and Terri have the gift of hospitality as well as anyone I’ve ever seen. They love having people in. Often, they invite me to bring my drawing materials down and sketch their guests. I slip in and draw the people, then get out of the way.
Anyway, I’m drawing this guy named Bill. I asked what he did for a living. “I’m a carpenter.”
The pastor said, “Bill was baptized last Sunday.”
We chatted about that. Bill said, “I had this real hunger in my heart.”
The pastor said, “Bill was working with another carpenter who is a Christian. When he told that fellow about this hunger inside, the other guy said, ‘You ought to come to church with me.'”
Bill said to him, “How do I do that?”
The co-worker said, “You just do it. You walk in the door and have a seat.”
Bill said, “You mean anyone can just walk right in to a church?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Anybody. Everyone is welcome.”
That was news to Bill. He came, heard the message, and responded to the invitation to receive Christ as Saviour. And now, with congregation and the young singles’ Sunday School class, he is getting a ton of new friends.
Later, I commented to Pastor Mike that Bill’s experience reminds us of false assumptions we Christians often make about people who aren’t coming to church. I thought of these; you’ll think of more….
–we assume that everyone knows the church is available for them.
–we assume they know they would be welcome and all they have to do is show up.
–we assume everyone knows how to be saved.
–and we assume that those not coming to church have thought it out and made a rational decision not to come for reasons of their own.
It just never occurs to us that there are people in our communities who do not know what goes on inside a church, do not know they are welcome there, and do not know what the Christian life is all about. There are people in our neighborhoods who have never ever been invited to church.
Pastor Mike said, “Well, you’ve heard my experience, haven’t you?” I hadn’t.
Raised in Odessa, Texas, Mike was an adult before he attended an Easter service and heard the story of Christ’s resurrection. (Hope I’m getting it right. Mike reads this blog and we’ll welcome his fuller statement at the end.) He found that to be a real eye-opener about the Christian faith.
Later, he asked his dad why he had not told him about the resurrection. Mr. Miller said, “Son, this is Odessa, Texas. Everyone here knows the story of the gospel.”
Mike said, “I didn’t. And how could I have? You never told me. You never took me to church with you. You never made it a point to helping your child understand about salvation.”
The father was stunned. It was a good lesson for a father who had doubtless done loving things for his family in a hundred other ways.
My hunch is when the typical church plans a program to reach out to the unchurched of their community, they envision a group of people who are hardened against the gospel.
I have a suggestion: let’s plan an outreach ministry not to the hard cases, but to the Bills of our neighborhoods–those who have never heard at all.
They’re there. Even in Odessa.
Bro. Joe – I’m reminded of a conversation that I had with the children’s minister of Celebration Church there in New Orleans area in the 1990s. I was working in the BAGNO associational office and talking with her by phone. She was bubbling over with excitement and enthusiasm about her salvation and walk with Christ. During the conversation I learned that she had never heard the Gospel until she was an adult – and was certain about that. Never through a church service, individual, media. The first time that she heard the Gospel – she accepted Christ. I’ve thought of her often – as you wrote, sometimes we get stuck in our ways of thinking.
Yep. I had never even heard about Easter until I was 21. I thought it was a Hallmark holiday–nothing but greeting cards, bunnies, candy, and colored eggs. I was stunned when I heard about the resurrection. And the interesting thing was that it was not through the sermon that I first heard, it was through a song sung by my bride-to-be (Sandi Patti’s “Was It a Morning Like This?”).
This is why to church members we preachers sound like broken records. Every Sunday we say some of the same things–particularly at the welcome and invitation times. We don’t want to assume people know what they might not know. So bear with us, folks. You’ve heard it a thousand times. But you just might be sitting next to someone whose life is about to be changed by hearing something very old as though it were brand new.
Joe:
Our church has been experiencing a moderate amount of growth over the last few years – to the point that they are starting to talk about building a new sanctuary. We have been really stressing ministering to our neighbors. You have just given me some additional ideas to present in a few weeks. God bless you for your work.
The importance of sharing the gospel — When I was a little girl (probably around 10), a man I did not know came one day to visit my grandfather, someone I loved dearly — a retired cabinetmaker. They visited for quite a while as I played there on the porch. When the man started to leave, he stopped where I was sitting and said to me, “Little girl, I want to tell you something. You love your gradfather, and you think that he was a cabinetmaker. I am a preacher, and you probably think that I work for the Lord and people are saved by the grace of God as I share the news about Jesus. But let me tell you, not one person who has been saved because God used my words to touch him/her would have been saved if it weren’t for your grandfather. When I was a very young man, I worked with him. I thought I was having a good time; I drank heavily, and did some other things I won’t tell you about, but they were not good things. Your grandfather talked to me a lot about how I was hurting myself, but he mostly talked to me about Jesus and what He could do with my life. I laughed at him and called him old-fashioned and not ‘with it’, but he continued to talk to me about Jesus and continued to tell me that he was praying for me. One day God answered his prayers and reached into my heart, saved me, and called me to the ministry. And all those people who have come to Jesus as a result of my ministry really came to Jesus because of the loving ministry of another carpenter.” I have no idea of that preacher’s name, and no idea if he is still on earth, or if he lives in heaven now. I do remember his very powerful message to a child of the importance of witnessing where we are, and of continuing that witness even if it doesn’t seem to be doing any good.