In the little country church where I grew up, I can remember hearing a familiar refrain: “I can remember when we all knew each other here. But this church has just gotten so big!” You might be surprised to know that only on Homecoming Sunday did we have the pews stuffed to capacity - about 100! That number would seem to be pretty intimate, compared with the more than 240 souls who regularly worship with us here at St. Mark’s. Given that we have been blessed to receive 87 new members – children and adults – since this time last year, dare we say it? It’s getting pretty challenging to keep up with knowing our church family! That said, part of the strength and charm of St. Mark’s is that we are not a place where worshippers mostly slip in and out every Sunday, knowing only their regular pew neighbors. We are still a warm, friendly church. That’s a lot to be thankful for!

And yet, although friendly was once good enough, it is no longer. We are in time and place that require us to practice the craft of Christian hospitality. We have to learn to be a welcoming church, which is more demanding than friendly. The friendly church smiles and says “Good morning. Glad you’re here.” The welcoming church says “Good morning. I’m John (Joan) Smith, and I’m not sure if we’ve met before.” That is actually meeting someone, and there is just no substitute for it! Hard as it is to believe, I still discover people who somehow got in, worshipped with us, and exited without actually meeting anyone. Friendly is not enough: we owe it to Christ to welcome his friends!

Ah, and one final thing: I like to say in our time of Offering that Christian worship is a life, and what we do as God’s people during the week is also our Offering. Life in churches bigger than the country chapels many of us were raised in requires of maturing disciples two things: 1) the gift of discernment (“What does God want me to do here?”) and 2) the virtue of initiative (“This week, I’m going to get up the gumption to call about that!”) Have you not yet found the level of nurture and engagement you feel you could, or that God wants for you? Watch the bulletin announcements, monitor the church bulletin boards in the classroom hallway – we update and regularly use them. Look into Sunday School and visit a class, where many (and with few exceptions, the key leaders of our church!) find channels of Christian service. Come to the Newcomers’ Class, join a Bible Study, or just buttonhole the pastor and say, “I can do this - how can I use it here for Christ?” Take it from a small-church fellow: there are so many ways to launch your boat for Him here. So hoist the anchor, and grab an oar!

And may God bless your voyage.

Dave