By Rev. Pete Hyde
It was a perfect “chamber of commerce day.” The temperature was near seventy, not a cloud in the sky, and a gentle breeze. A small group of ladies from the church and I had traveled to a large arts and crafts festival. As soon as we parked and a time was set for departure, they scattered like a group of excited children headed to recess. I turned around, and they were gone. I had no shopping list or agenda other than getting bratwurst for lunch. I slowly strolled the streets lined on both sides and down the middle with white pop-up canopies, trying my best to stay out of the way of serious shoppers.
The local high school booster club was selling brats with homemade sauerkraut, peppers and all the trimmings. I gathered up my lunch, found an old stump on the edge of the sidewalk in the sun, settled down and checked off the only thing on my to-do list for the day. The music of the local high school jazz band filtered down the street from the stage a half a block away. The smell of burgers and brats grilling mixed with the smell of kettle corn from the booth next door brought a carnival feel to lunchtime. It was time to do a little people watching.
People moved up and down the aisles created by the crafter’s tents in an orderly fashion. As always, there were a few who were bucking the flow of traffic. There was an older couple making their way down the street. She was darting from booth to booth while he made steady progress in a straight line, cane in hand. Then came the young family pushing a stroller. Dad had one child in his arms dripping a Popsicle down his back. The child in the stroller had managed to get cotton candy on every square inch of himself or herself and the entire inside of the stroller. Mom was texting and not really paying attention, therefore everyone had to dodge them as they weaved through the crowd, never stopping to look at the arts and crafts. Groups of teenagers in various forms of attire made their way through the crowds with their heads down and eyes focused on their cell phones. They all giggled when one of them turned to the other and said, “Did you get the text I just sent you?” A couple who looked like they were in their seventies walked slowly, holding hands from booth to booth. One of the teenagers said, “Isn’t that sweet, they’re holding hands.”
I moved from my stump to a vacant bench with a cup of mocha almond fudge ice cream in my hand. It wasn’t on my list, but I need to indulge a little. Again, I gazed across the crowd. Thousands of people, each with their own agendas for the day, each with their own set of issues and problems, joys and concerns, sorrows and happiness, tears and laughter, enjoying a day in the same place but yet still alone, looking for little diversion or escape from the rigors of life.
Is this a picture of the church today – individual people coming together in a group, yet still alone, looking for an escape or diversion from the rigors of life? If it is, then the church has failed. We are called, as Christians, to come together as individuals with all the baggage we carry and form a body, the Body of Christ. If the church is nothing more than a group of individuals, each on their own individual journeys, who just happen to gather together once in a while, then we will make no more impact on our community and world than the crowds attending an arts and crafts festival. The song says: “I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together.” Let’s consider who we are as the church and, more importantly, who we are as individual members of the body and our part in forming the Body of Christ, called to impact our communities and the world in His name.
Rev. Pete Hyde serves as chaplain with the South Walton Fire District.
