Do you think that church is a place just for perfect people? Do you think that being a Christian means that God, and other Christians, expect you to never put a foot wrong?
If so, then hopefully this funny story about something that happened at our church recently will convince you that being perfect isn’t a prerequisite of being a Christian.
At All Saints ANew, New Lambton, the safety of our congregation and our guests is a top priority. That’s why we periodically run emergency evacuation drills at the church.
A few weeks ago we prepared to hold our first set of drills in our newly refurbished church building after many months of the renovation process.
The first of the drills was scheduled to be run at our Sunday 8am service. This is probably because the 8am-ers are generally considered to be amongst the most level headed and orderly folks of the various congregational tribes at our church.
Towards the end of that morning’s service, the presenter calmly made the announcement that the evacuation drill would commence and that everyone in the building should leave their personal possessions behind and proceed immediately towards the nearest exit.
So, after each person in the pews picked up their phones, wallets, purses, backpacks and ruck sacks, everyone moved in an orderly manner to the nearest exit and they were neatly directed up the road to our assigned meeting point.
Everything seemed to progress as smoothly as everyone expected….
…..but back in the church…..
A few minutes before the evacuation drill announcement, one fellow in our congregation felt the “call of nature”. For the sake of his dignity we’ll assign him a pseudonym and refer to him as “Fred” (His real name is Robert).
Without any hint of disturbance to the proceedings, Fred (Robert) made his way to the back of the church and entered the newly renovated and accessible toilet facilities .
In fact, Fred (still Robert) was so stealthy in his journey to the “rest rooms” that no one else in the congregation seemed to have noticed that he had made his way there.
However, ignorance that morning, was not merely a one way affair!
Whether it was the upgraded insulation of the walls of the rebuilt bathroom block impeding the sound of the announcement, or whether Fred (Robbo) was just very focused on his “task”, it seemed that he had absolutely no idea that everyone else had left the building.
So when Fred (we also call him Bob) left the bathroom stall and emerged into the church….
…..he was completely alone.
Robert (Fred) was mystified! After contemplating for a few moments what might have happened, his mind started to lean towards fantastic miraculous possibilities……perhaps even that his friends had been “taken up” by Jesus and he had been forgotten!
Naturally, Jesus had not forgotten Fred (or his real name) but his earthly friends had!
After a minute or two, the congregation returned to the church building, only to see a single lonely soul standing in the vestibule. Our minister calmly approached Fred and somberly told him, “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but you have been burned to a crisp!”. Everyone had a good laugh.
On a serious note, the event organisers and church safety officers were able to correct this oversight and amend the evacuation procedures. In all the subsequent drills at the other services, someone was assigned to check the toilets and no one was left behind (as far as we know!)
This funny (but still somewhat serious) incident highlights something important about our church in New Lambton. We are not a church just for perfect people who never make mistakes, who never do anything wrong and who never fail. In fact, we’re a church full of people who regularly make mistakes, people who have flaws, and people who struggle with all the same kinds of difficulties and temptations that everyone else does.
But the great news is, God knows this and He still wants to have a relationship with each of us. In fact, this is exactly why He sent His Son Jesus into the world.
The wonderful thing about our God is that He’s not looking for how we’re going to satisfy Him with our goodness, or impress Him with our cleverness or earn His love with our hard work. Instead, it’s God who has done all the hard work, and He’s done it for each and every one of us by sending His son Jesus to die on the cross and rise again!
All we have to do is accept and acknowledge the gift of what Jesus has done for us, turn back to God and return to being God’s friend.
But, how exactly do you do that?
If you’re interested in finding out more, then please come along to one of our services or get in touch with us and we’d love to have a conversation with you.
Or why not start discovering Jesus by reading about his life in the Gospel of Luke which tells the story of how Jesus came to our world with the purpose of saving us.