"The Homecoming"

One of the first people to greet Pastor Shulz when he came to Our Redeemer over three years ago was Martha Ferguson. She invited him over to a dinner of pork chops, mashed potatoes and green beans. The pork chops weren't all that was grilled that evening - she grilled him about almost every aspect of his life, from the churches he had served to the death of his wife, and even where he had lived growing up. Finally, satisfied with her knowledge and in the presence of her husband, she volunteered that the biggest burden and disappointment of her life was the fact that she could never get her husband to go to church with her. "Maybe you could change that," she noted to Pastor Shulz, over a bite of cobbler, with barely a glance over at her husband. Pastor Shulz's felt his cheeks grow hot, but the remark didn't seem to faze Sam, her husband. Either he was used to such remarks, or simply didn't care.

Martha was involved in everything at the church - she taught Sunday School, was in the choir until the church decided to start a Children's Hour during church, which she promptly took over. She worked in the Food Pantry and at the local Crisis Pregnancy Hotline, and occasionally at the Women's Shelter. She headed up a book club at the church which studied the latest in Christian literature. In all, she was a remarkable woman, which led Pastor Shulz to conclude that the problem indeed, must lie with Sam.

That opinion began to change a couple of months ago, when she came up to Pastor Shulz after their Tuesday "Coffee and a Book" class, and asked to speak with him privately. Once the door to his office was closed, she confided in him. "Pastor, my son wants to get married. He's the biggest disappointment of my life. He has a child by another woman that he's paying support for, and has been living with this woman for five years now. They've finally decided to get married, but I told him it has to be in church, or I won't come. Her family doesn't even go to church. I know it's a terrible situation, and I wouldn't be surprised if you say no."

Pastor Shulz said he thought it was good they decided to get married, and he'd be glad to do the wedding, which, indeed, did seem to surprise her, and have her some literature to give to her son. And he told her to have him get in contact with him for some premarital counseling.

Since then, he's been watching Martha a bit more closely, because, while it certainly might be disappointing that our children don't go the way we think they should, unless they've gone off murdering a bunch of people or something like that, usually we get over their decisions and learn even to celebrate joyous moments with them, without conditions. He's noticed since then that martha talks a lot in her Sunday School class about good morals, and keeping oneself clean and unstained by the world. Her talks during the Children's Hour are of the same sort, with a lot of chastising for not sitting up straight, not listening, not wearing proper clothes to church and the like. She has a lot of expectations, which give occasion for plenty of disappointment, because people seldom live up to our expectations - especially when we have a lot of them for them to live up to, if you know what I mean.

When she talks about her work at the Pantry, the Shelter or the Crisis Center, he notices that it's all about "those people." "Those people" should get a job; "those people" just come to talk and aren't interested in helping. "Those people" just can't seem to get their lives together. "Those people" really shouldn't be helped by the church - it just allows them to be lazy. Lately, he's been thinking that, if her attitude is like that around her husband, if he's one of "those people" too, it's no wonder he doesn't want to come to church. She's not much of an advertisement for grace.

After the Education Committee meeting this week, she confided in him: "Pastor, I don't know if I can work in the Crisis Pregnancy Center any longer. It's just too hard on me. You try to show those women the right way to go, and half the time, they just ignore you. A lot of them don't really want abortions anyway. But then they decide to keep the babies. I think they do it for the welfare checks. Pastor - most of them are young and poor - they can't take care of a baby! They shouldn't be allowed to keep them. How are they going to provide for them? But they won't give them up for adoption. They only think of themselves - not what's best for the babies! I think they just come to get the free things the Center gives them. So I'm through with them! I've had enough!"

I suppose she expected Pastor Shulz to agree with her, and commiserate over the sorry state of families these days, and over human sinfulness and self-centeredness, and over people who won't listen to good reason. But, instead, he told her: "You know, Martha, I think you're doing the right thing. Those young women come looking for help from someone who will support them, and listen to them, and help them make their own decisions. A lot of them have had people make their decisions for them all their life, which is why they are where they are now. And most of them feel stuck, which is why they are considering an abortion. And they already feel bad about themselves, for even entertaining the idea of having an abortion. So they probably don't need another person that looks down on them, telling them what to do."

Immediately, Pastor Shulz realized he had said too much - it was clear Martha thought so. She was stunned, muttered something about talking to council about his rudeness, and stormed out. She also quit Children's Church, and the Sunday School - she did stay in the choir, however, where she could slip out of church without having to greet the pastor - and she remained at the Food Pantry.

She must have said something to Sam, because, come Sunday, he was there in a pew, about four rows back. After church, he waited in line to greet the pastor. Pastor Shulz was just about to apologize when Sam took his hand, put his left one on top and said, with a grin, "Well, I guess we're both big disappointments to her. God has given her so much, but it's a shame - everything in her life seems to disappoint her." Then he added, "As for me, I think maybe I've finally found a church I like."

The most amazing thing about God's love is that it is given so freely to the undeserving, and those who try to limit it, or add their own expectations to it, just limit their own experience of it. It's perhaps no wonder that those who can accept and live in that grace are all sinners, and that they tend to be happier people than those for whose God's grace is always conditional. At least that's what Pastor Shulz is thinking today. And that's what's been happening over at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church this week - a little church over Mount Union way, off of Route 22 - a congregation that doesn't seem to be much in the eyes of the world, but is oh, so very precious in the eyes of God.