The nature of our family today is that we are scattered across the
country. While I grew up only a few
miles from my grandparents and each of their children, such is not the case
with our family today. While Ann and I
live in North Carolina, 3 of our 4 daughters live in other states. While many families all get together at
Christmas and other holidays, it seems that we are only able to all get
together about once a year. That once
a year gathering took place a few weeks ago.
Ann and I rented a house in the NC mountains and all of us made our way
to that 7 bedroom 5 bath home in the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. You will find above a picture that was taken
of all of us together. This picture was
taken at the house where we stayed.
While it is great to have this picture of each of our family members
with the Great Smoky Mountains in the background, there is something
missing. Perhaps it is more accurate to
say that someone is missing. All of our
immediate family was present except for our son in law, Christian Neff. Christian was not able to join us this year
for an important reason: he is deployed
right now in his duties as a Chief Warrant Officer with the U.S. Army. This is his 5th deployment in his
12 years of military service. I missed
Christian being there. I missed his dry
wit and his corny jokes. Christian missed
much too. He missed running around Lake
Junaluska with the family, riding the roller coaster at Santa Land, and seeing
the house where he and my daughter, Ginger, spent their honeymoon. I am so grateful that we could be together
as a family, but I missed Christian.
I tell the story of our family gathering and of Christian’s absence not
simply to point out the sacrifices our military personnel and their families
make, but to make a point about the nature of the church: when people are absent when the family of
faith gathers, they are missed and they miss something. In my 40 plus years as a pastor, I can’t
recall a single church gathering when everyone in that church was present. I have heard a myriad of reasons for
abscences through the years. Some
reasons have seemed quite understandable
and other reasons have seemed pretty weak at best. I will let God be the judge of all
that.
There are many people that have had bad experiences with the
church. I have seen the church at its
worst, but I also have seen the church at its best. What I do know is that you miss something
when you are not present when the church gathers, and the church is not the
same without you. I hope to either see
you in church soon or hear about your time there. Have a joy-filled week.- Pastor Randy Wall
Prayer: O
God, thank you for the church, the body
of Christ. Heal the hurts in my heart of
when the church has not been true to your way; through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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