A Trip to Bogard

Twas a long day, today was. I officiated at a called charge conference at 6 pm at Bogard UMC in Bogard. The purpose was to take a vote on selling two tracts of land next to the church building to the neighbor. There were seven persons present--they were missing two of the regular attenders. They have worship service twice a month, served by two lay speakers, and have Sunday School on the other two Sundays each month. This is the church which I blogged about last fall that has a Salvadore Dali print of St. John of the Cross, a signed Salvadore Dali print, and what an oddly wonderful thing to discover it.

Today, I made sure to wear my jacket with the abstract art (see picture) in honor of Bogard and Dali. It took me about an hour and forty five minutes to drive there, and the charge conference was over in ten minutes. I lingered a bit, asked some questions about how they were doing, had them share some history and they also had a chuckle over my delight with the Dali print, and I was on the road back home by 6:35. What??!!! I hear some say. Are you CRAZY driving all that way for that? I even thought that myself about 3:00. Why didn't I have one of the elders that is close by Bogard go out and run the charge conference? That would have made more sense in terms of finances (gas) and energy (mine). Not even very green of me really. Even in a Prius. And I was more than tired when I got home.

And yet....the one sheep; the one woman who touched the edge of his garment in the crowd; the private conversations with Nicodemus and a rich young ruler; the visit with the two sisters; the meal with the twelve. Wouldn't it have made more sense, in a way, if Jesus saved his best stuff for the crowds on the hillside? Why bother with the one or two or twelve?

I am convinced that God's economy is so drastically different from ours that for us, post-enlightenment and Western who do like to measure so, it is very hard to understand. We so often weigh our time and effort not in terms of the impact of the one, but the impact of the many. Is it worth my time to drive all the way out there for something somebody else could have done as well as I could? Maybe part of the issue is that although some other elder could have run the conference, no other elder is the d.s. of Bogard and represents the larger church. I am not sure any other elder would have challenged them as pointedly as I did ---one woman spoke about how many of the houses in this town have become cheap rental property and folks are often known to skip out on rent---I reminded them that these are the ones who need us the most...that there was still ministry to do in this community which they all love...God isn't through with them yet...in more ways than one.

It was worth my time to go there and to look at the beautiful faces of seven folks who love their church and their community who just need, really, a little creativity and courage to reach out, not to all the persons in need in their community, but just even one. It was worth my time to drive all that way, talking on the phone with Kendall a bit about administrative issues, and talking to sick Cana twice, and leaving a message for Rosanne Malter, and listening to Sammy Davis Jr sing songs from Porgy and Bess on my iPod and it was really worth it to sing along with Marty Stuart "I can't even walk, without holding Your hand..." and it was worth my time to have a good conversation over lunch with just one pastor earlier today and get good advice from another while sitting in his office this aftenoon.

Lord, help me to always remember, it is worth it.

PS I need to go to the Town and Country event at Saint Paul...badly. Hope I can figure out how.