We will be travelling to Evanston, Ill just outside of Chicago this Easter where my eldest son, daughter in law and two grandchildren live. It is almost an Easter tradition, right there with eating the ears off the children’s chocolate bunnies. I know in the years we have lived in Ulysses I have attended more Easter services with my son and his family in Chicago than I have here at home. They attend a small, well large when compared to where we attend, Church led by a pastor from the Philippines. That feature had my interest from the beginning. You could say he is a missionary to a foreign country, mine! What really catches my attention is the cultural diversity of the congregation, Asian, Black, and the very White, all worshiping God in an old church on the corner of Elmwood and Lake Street.
While setting in the parishioner polished, slick, hard pews its difficult not to ask when that first stone was laid to this old building did the church leaders at that time have any idea that such a mix of people and races would ever assemble within the walls, would they approve of the music, or did they build it for those that looked like themselves? Our places of worship house the things we value or at least house symbols of those things. Oversized Bibles, communion table, pulpit, pews filled people like us, those with the same values, same core beliefs, same taste in music, and all of these buildings seem to have a large sacred cross somewhere.
Some churches I have attended, like this one in Evanston, also allowed for a mix of cultures, tastes, and beliefs. Not enough to dilute the truth of the Gospel but enough to allow for those that like their music on the rock and roll side, to allow for those who were a little charismatic, to allow for those that wanted something more subdued, to allow for those that had different color of skin, that allowed for the visitor that didn’t quite measure up. I have always felt comfortable in a congregation filled with such people. Churches that value the person in the pews more than a particular order of service, ones that sought out the lost, the hurting, those that just didn’t fit elsewhere and ministered to them, churches that touch lives vs those that forbid you to touch the sacred objects have always felt like home. As I set there on the hard pew I wonder was this old building always filled with such people.
This church outside of Chicago feels like home, I am welcomed, talked to and treated as I would hope I would do were the visitor and the visited rolls reversed. But mostly I am attracted to this church by the joy this particular pastor expresses about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a joy that is echoed in the music, the prayers, and in the congregation. Of course an Easter sermon ought to bring out the best in a Christian Preacher, as this day represents the ultimate hope of all Christians. As I said in last year’s post Easter is my favorite Holiday, the day of Christ’s resurrection, reminding me again there is a day of resurrection coming!
I doubt those that laid the cornerstone to this particular building envisioned a pastor from the Philippians, doubt they would enjoy the drums, tambourine, or keyboard. Just maybe they envisioned such a multi ethnic congregation, but that would have been rare. However, I believe that those Christians would recognize and more importantly share in the thing I see when I attend… the celebration of the hope we have in Christ, demonstrated in his resurrection. In that one thing, in that common thread, in this one tenant of faith all Christians should be united in celebration, regardless if they are Lutheran, Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist, or any other flavor of Christian. If I were to design and build a church it likely would not have a sacred cross but a stone, a massive round one, the type that had to be rolled away. A constant reminder of the hope I have.
By the way the name on the building of this church, on the corner of Elmwood and Lake Street if you’d like to join us, is “Living Hope of Calvary” that name alone is a reason enough to visit there on Easter Sunday.
David
