I Was Just Thinking...

…about history. I was staring out my window today as a car pulled up and a couple emerged.  One looked at a few vantage points, the other pointed a rather fancy camera at our building, they looked at each other satisfied, ambled back to their car and were off. I hope it’s for a magazine spread on “Incredible Churches on Midway Road,” but to be honest, our building looks a tad historic and I guarantee they were looking for a … weathered church feel in the photo.

I’ve been immersed in some history today—I’ve spent a few hours going over five years’ worth of board minutes, congregational meeting records, budgets and bylaws. I have read all about the Tolerance Task Force, the Visioning Team, the New Beginnings work, and the transition we have been as a church for a long time. I have about six thousand questions, and committee chairs, officers, former officers and the like can expect phone calls in the short time leading up to the Board meeting on September 23. I have a lot of ideas, which I’m scribbling on notepads all over my office and chattering away about with folks in the office. What’s missing, though, is the history of it.
Don’t get me wrong—I’ve read the minutes, I know what happened; I don’t, necessarily, know the why of it. What passions emerged and moved people to act; why people were on the committees, teams and task forces they were on; how it ties into what came before and what came after and what else was going on in the present. I like history. I like stories. It’s one of about a million great things about my calling.

So, here’s where I get a history lesson. I want to know your history—your history with MHCC, your history before it (or apart from it), how our God who moves through history has moved in your life and your story. And I want to do it over a meal. Yes, I am in my 20’s and I have no problem inviting myself over for lunch or out for dinner. Every Thursday, beginning September 20 until I am done, I want to share a meal with a family unit or group of folks from MHCC until I’ve eaten with and heard the stories of everyone. And then I might start over—who knows? If you’re single (like me), or for other reasons would prefer to eat in a group of folks, great!  The more, the merrier.

I will have a sign-up made and ready for this Sunday, where we’re talking about covenants and how we’re all called to tell what God has done for us. I definitely hope to see you there at 10:49.

Shalom y’all,
Arthur