by The Rev. Dr. Stephen Applegate, Interim Rector

Dear Friends,

I’m glad to be back at St. Paul’s after taking some vacation. Terry and I had a great time in New Hampshire with the four other households that make up our family. We rented three cottages on Lake Winnisquam near Laconia where we swam, jumped off the floating raft, and kayaked along the shore. The highlight for me was baptizing the newest member of the family, Charlotte Jean Thompson. On a Sunday morning, her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins witnessed the event and promised (as the congregation does at every baptism) to support Charlotte in her life in Christ.

The baptism led to several conversations about the experiences various members of the family have had recently in churches they’ve visited. None of them attends church regularly, nor are they pledging members of any congregation, but they care deeply and wish their experiences were more positive, particularly in terms of the welcomes they have received—or haven’t received.

In some cases, they’ve been completely ignored by people in the surrounding pews. In other cases, only one person has said hello. In no cases have people invited them to coffee hour or wanted to get to know them better. Sadly, this was also true of the clergy in most cases.

It made me think of a story told by the late Fred Craddock, the Bandy Distinguished Professor of Preaching and New Testament Emeritus in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He is regarded as one of the greatest preachers of the 20th Century. Here’s the story Fred told:

I preached four nights in a church in Atlanta: a nice, big church with a good crowd, more than I’m used to. There was a moment in the service where the pastor said, “We’ll now have our moments of fellowship. Greet each other in Christian love,” and you never saw such hugging and kissing and carrying on in your life: people going across the room, and up and down the aisles, and grabbing and hugging. Somebody came up to me (I was down behind the pulpit), and gave me a big smack. It was just really something. Finally, he said, “All right hold it, hold it. We have to get on with the worship.” Four nights of that.

The last night, he and his wife took my wife and me out to coffee. He said, “Did you ever see such a family church? Did you ever see such love in your life in a church?” My wife said, “Yeah, well, yeah, I have.” He said, “What do you mean?” She said, “I was there for all four services, and nobody ever spoke to me.” And do you know what he said? He said, “Well, that was because they didn’t know who you were.”

“That was because they didn’t know who you were.” I have always loved what the Benedictine order says about hospitality, “Let all guests who arrive be received as Christ.”

If that’s who is walking through the doors of St. Paul’s (or any other church) we already know who they are, don’t we?

Blessings,

Stephen Applegate