A Church Person?

What is a Church Person? I was having a brief conversation yesterday on our corner with a friend of mine who goes by the name of Walt. Walt is a fellow that we've known for some time. Almost since the beginning I think. All the way back to last November. :) Hey...we go way back! But Walt said something to me yesterday that kind of struck me as odd. We were chatting about a mutual friend who is no longer in the Omaha area. I mentioned that I saw our friend recently, so Walt and I were talking about our perceived notions around this fellow's departure and the events that led to his departure from Omaha. The fellow we were talking about, Don, had gotten himself into somewhat of a jam and was really looking for a fresh start somewhere. So, yesterday, as I am chatting with Walt, he tells me how he hopes Don is doing ok. I said it seemed as though he was. He seems to be doing well in his new environment and really seems to get that his (Don's) relationship with Christ is the most important thing he has now. He may be homeless and may have a host of issues that go along with that sort of lifestyle, but he seems to be coming to a much better understanding of his relationship with Christ. When Don was here in Omaha, he was struggling with lots of things, as we are all apt to do. The thing a lot of people seem to miss as far as homeless folks go, is that they are people just like the rest of us. It's easy to see people as objects on occasion, but taking the time to get to know some of these people is simply fascinating to me. Fascinating stories, personalities, just great people. But I digress...more on the church person idea later.

This past weekend, Omaha hosted its annual Summer Arts Festival. Lots of artist's booths, food, people, etc. Just so happens that this festival convenes 1 block south of our weekly gathering spot. It's a pretty big festival, and lots of people show up for it. Our concern was that we might have a difficult time getting in to our corner, because of the logistical issues that might be present. We considered alternative ideas for the day, like moving to a different location for this day, but ultimately we decided to do our thing. We did however decide to scale back our activities. We normally bring a full meal, clothing donations, hygiene items, etc. We decided to do a Sack Lunch Sunday this week to kind of keep things a little simpler. Now if you ask Robin, it wasn't any simpler. Robin, being the head Culinary Chef, prepared over 150 sack lunches. Ham and cheese sandwiches, chips, homemade cookies, you get the idea. And our friend Margie spent several hours at our house Saturday building sandwiches. Good fellowship time. And some of our other friends made lunches. cookies, etc. and brought them down on Sunday. Probably over 200 meals in all. Robin felt the need to apologize to the folk's downtown, as did I, for not preparing a Sunday meal like we normally do. One fellow standing in the line looked at her rather odd and asked if a sack lunch wasn't a meal? But in the end, after all was said and done, it was a great day for me because of the increased fellowship time I was able to spend with people on that corner. I had several conversations with people that I normally don't get to have because of the craziness that transpires there every weekend. It's a good craziness, but it gets a little hectic.

So yesterday, I had a great conversation with our friend Juan. Juan is a little beaten down I suppose. I can only imagine, but this lifestyle will lend itself to that I guess. He told me that he was going to war? With whom Juan? God! Going to war with God! I tried to be gentle with him and let him know that was one he couldn't win. He was tired though. Tired of this lifestyle. Tired of the fact that he's given everything up for God and he feels as though he has been let down. I'm really not sure what Juan's situation is. You could tell that he was just tired. Robin chats with Juan often, so we know a little about him. Just a difficult situation all around. The poor guy wants to do things the right way, he just has his struggles. Don't we all.

I had a great chat with my buddy Gene. Gene always has a smile, a handshake and a great hug for me. It's hard not to be attracted to certain individuals, be it in a church setting, at work, or wherever. It's no different here. Gene is one of the guys I look for every week. In fact as I was looking for a parking place yesterday, I saw Gene and another fellow heading in a direction about 6 blocks east of where we normally meet. Said they heard that was where we were going to be. Nope. Normal place. 14th and Douglas. Every Sunday. Noon. So they made their way over. After he had a bite to eat, we had a great conversation. His mother died a couple of weeks ago. I knew she had been ill, but I was sorry for him and for his loss. She was good with the Big Guy though, so he was good with it. As good with it as one can be in that situation. Gene is just a great guy to hang with though. He's been clean a couple of years and is back in school. Wants to be a chemical dependency counselor. He'll make it. I have no doubt. Although he lives in the shelter, he is trying to get it together and it's awesome to hear his stories. Just a great, great guy. We had a good, solid 15 or 20 minutes together and that is what it's all about. Relationships.

At one point yesterday, a young lady stopped me. Her words...cracked me up. Here's how the conversation went. "Pastor Dave?" Of course I laugh. Pastor Dave? For crying out loud! If you know me, you know how ridiculous that is. So she continues..."Pastor Dave? Are you from the Empty Tomb?" Me? I'm immediately stopping her. No. Not Pastor Dave. Just Dave. I answer to a lot of things, but not that. Nope. So the Empty Tomb thing? Apparently there is a church just west of downtown called The Empty Tomb. Is that where we come from. Nope. So often people ask us what church we are from. Well, that raises lots of things in my mind. What church are we from? Are we church people? I mean, think about that. Church people? Have we gotten to the point that we have labels for everything? To be honest, it's one of my pet peeves actually. The whole labeling thing. Not just related to church things, but labels in general. I could go on a tangent about that, but I won't. So Katie asks me if we are from the Empty Tomb. I tell her no. And I'm not a pastor. And I really hope that I don't present myself that way. But here's the thing. Where do we come from? Where, when we show up on that corner each Sunday, do we come from? If I wanted to trace it back a little bit, say a couple of years, I could tell people that we come from University City Fellowship in Charlotte. I mean, bottom line? That is where we learned to "go there". That is where I learned that it's all about the application! Are we church people? Not so much now. At least not in the conventional sense. But we certainly are in a very nontraditional sense. I know there are people that would probably scoff at the idea that this thing that happens on that corner could be called a church. I know that and I completely understand where that thinking comes from. I've been there. I know. 5 or 10 years ago, if someone would have told me that they went to a church on a downtown corner with no building, no pews, no worship band, etc, I would have probably rolled my eyes, winked and nodded the old approval thing. But now? After learning how to "go there" from our church in Charlotte, I have a different understanding. Just a different view on how this can be done, at least for now. Here's the thing. You never know where you are going to be or what role you are going to be in. You never know. Tomorrow? Next week? Next month? 6 months from now? You can't know. I remember sitting in a church about 6 or 7 years ago, I think it was about March or April. It was a Sunday night revival! The fellow leading the service asked people to stand if they thought they'd be here a month from now. He went on and asked the same question regarding where you might be 2 months from now...6 months from now...1 year from now. You get the point. I stood and remained standing. I wasn't going anywhere! Crazy. A few months later? I'm working in Bradenton, Florida and we are on the journey of a lifetime as far as I'm concerned. 2 years later? Harrisburg, North Carolina. 3 years later? Back in Omaha. So where are we from? I don't know anymore. But I know Who sends us. And I think I know why. Because every single Sunday we meet with the greatest group of ladies and gentlemen you could hope to meet. By and large, very respectful, very thankful and just great people to congregate with.

But Katie asked if we were from the Empty Tomb? I had to laugh because of the way she asked. I told her no, we aren't from the Empty Tomb, but I sure want to get there. She says it's right up the street. No Katie, I mean the real one. Will you accompany me? By the way Katie, are you a church person? Walt told me that our friend Don needed a church person. You see, Walt said Don was a Godly person. But Walt couldn't help him there. Walt doesn't have "ideas" about God? What does that mean? That was his term. No "ideas"? Well, Walt, I have a few ideas and it is my intent to share them with you. One idea at a time. I'll share 'em with you. Because where I come from, that's what I was taught to do. May be a little unconventional in how we do it, maybe we're not church people, but we do it nonetheless. And we'll continue doing it. Just have to thank God for offering us the opportunity and the place to hold our gatherings. Thanks for letting us be church people on that corner to our friends.

So maybe from now on, when people ask which church we come from? Maybe I'll just tell 'em we come from University City Fellowship in Charlotte, North Carolina. That oughta get people thinking. And Juan? By the time we were leaving the area on Sunday, Juan had decided not to go to war. It's a good thing. And Gene, he was heading off to the library to do some schoolwork. And us? I don't know. I don't even know where we come from. How in the world do I know where we're going? :)

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

..."it matters to that one"... :)