I Peter: 1:25
One of the most memorable of my Sundays at First Presbyterian was in May of last year. It started out as a normal Sunday, though I was leading the service as Pastor David was out on vacation. My sermon was prepared; the bulletin was prepared; I was prepared as prepared could be. And then the storm hit.
If you were there, I’m sure you remember it. But if you weren’t, it was a Sunday morning when the tornado sirens went a-blaring. Everybody who had a phone capable of connecting to the internet had theirs out and were pointing to the angry-looking red swirls on the weather map that were headed in Muscatine’s direction. There was hail and wind strong enough to sway the trees from side to side. The sky took on that curiously nauseated look of greenish-yellow that only comes with foul weather. Anxieties were running a bit high, most of all for the Pastoral Resident who was trying to figure out how to both have church and be safe.
With the help of some good people on Buildings and Grounds, as well as the wisdom of some of the choir, we decided to head to the multipurpose room in the basement in order to continue the service. The piano from the choir practice room was wheeled in, and David Coleman played as well as David always, always plays. Wes Walker set up a projection screen in what had to have been record time. Kate Anderson served as liturgist, Marcia Werner led the recognition of our graduates, and the offering was collected. The service went well enough for me to actually begin to enjoy it and to feel worshipful in the midst of this hulking crowd of wet Presbyterians seeking sanctuary in the basement away from the sanctuary.
It was a different space. It was a different routine. It was a different experience, but through it all the Word of the Lord was made manifest among us, and we were Christ’s church. It reminded me that, even when we fall into patterns of behavior and can even mistake those patterns for holy things themselves, they are not. The church is not the building, not the cold stones that give us shelter. We are the Church and wherever it is we are, the Spirit of the Risen Christ is with us, whether we are prepared for it or not. It’s a lesson I don’t plan to forget.
Alex Kindred
