I couple of years ago, I heard about a church, don’t ask me where, that would

close its doors over the summer. It was a rather large church; however, attendance

over the summer would drop to such level that the bill for running the air

conditioning on a Sunday would be higher than the offering. So the lead pastor

and the church council voted to have no Sunday services during July and August.

What a concept! Imagine St. Mark’s closed down for the summer. Many among

us probably would ask themselves, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”

When I heard this story, my first reaction was, “How could they?” Isn’t the

celebration of the Lord’s day, isn’t the proclamation of the Word and the communion

of the saints more important than the electricity bill? Isn’t God worthy of

those bucks paid?

I also was a little concerned about the people of that particular congregation.

Where would they get support, where would they get their nourishment if the

place they call their church home is closed? What about those arbitrary folks

who may desperately need for that church to be open in the middle of July because

of some crisis in their lives? Overall, my first reaction was: what an inconsiderate

thing to do.

But the story about this church closing its doors continued. The church leadership

saw the summer not as a time to slack off, but as an opportunity to look

for God in different places. People leaving town on vacation would be urged to

do? Where would you go and with whom?

God is at work in wonderful ways in all different places. May we never forget

this.

Have a great summer!