~ by the Pastor and guest writers ~
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The Halls are Quiet (June 8, 2006) The halls are quiet around First Presbyterian Church these days. The Lynn Flowers School is closed for the summer. No longer do the kids fill the air with the noises children make. You will have to make a special effort to drop by for a visit and to make a little noise. I think I will miss the young folks most on Wednesdays at Chapel time or maybe not having them run along the fence waving at and chatting with Pastor O’Quin as I roll down the sidewalk leaving the church for lunch or a meeting. Each Sunday our attendance drops from the 240s to the 140s this past week. One wonders what could be causing such a slide in attendance until the realization that we are in the Valley leaps into our mind. The Winter Texans were gone by Easter time and now with school out, the rest of us leave on summer vacation. It is probably not too different from the trends in most congregations, but is more visible in the Valley. All this is to be recognizing how full and exciting the past 8 months have been. Reflecting back over the immediate past is to be filled with wonder at how much we have done with such perfection. You can join me in that country song that says, “It’s hard to be humble when you are as perfect as we are.” (Or something like that.) You really have done a wonderful thing for the Kingdom over these past months. And I think the coming year will be even better. Allow me some personal reflection, as I talk about the issue of trust. I’m not talking in the traditional sense of trusting someone with your money, etc., but rather trusting in relationships. Too often we ask someone to do something and then turn around and do it ourselves as if we don’t trust them to do what they said they would. The end result is that folks tend to believe that we really didn’t need them. And this grows into a pattern of no one doing anything except the leaders. So join me in following a procedure in which we ask folks, or expect volunteers, to do a task, and we walk away with the task undone if the person who accepted the task doesn’t complete it. What happens is that some tasks don’t get done. Yet it is more clearly understood by both parties that we really meant it when we asked and you meant it when you accepted the task. That’s an interesting relationship which has no hidden agendas. Keep us on your calendar this summer. See you in church. O’Quin
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