Church in the Windshield

Mizpah United Methodist Church

October 13, 2019

 

Some of America’s finest churches are found on back roads; little churches, thriving, caring and witnessing to their church families. The Mizpah United Methodist Church is one of those wonderful churches. This church is located twelve miles south of Clay Center, Kansas on Highway 15 and a quarter of a mile east on sixth road. The church, sitting on the hilltop can be seen from the highway. This little church has weathered physical storms and given spiritual hope to its community since its establishment in 1905.

The Biblical meaning of Mizpah in Hebrew is “watchtower.” The mission of the church is to love God, help others and help others love God.

We arrived about thirty minutes ahead of the service so that we could take some pictures as per usual for us. Except for a car or two, the parking lot was empty but the sun shining on the eastern

side of building, the white fence and the winding ramp caught our attention. Here was a church that was well maintained and seemed to say “come on in.” In a little while, cars began entering the parking lot and parked along the white fence. We observed a good mix of young people, middle aged and “sun-setters” like ourselves. It was obvious that the Mizpah Church was a family church and everyone was a part of the family, including us.

Most of the congregation entered the church by way of a side door instead of the front door; perhaps it was because of the steps. We chose to climb the steps so we could get a straight in view of the sanctuary.

Our first view of the sanctuary revealed a nicely remodeled place of worship . . . warm, friendly and inviting. People greeted us with cheerful “good morning” and introduced themselves. Two of our cousins’ also members of the church saw us; came and gave us greeting. It was good to see them. There were more greetings, welcomes and pleasantries.

We found a pew near the front of the church and sat down. Pastors, even retired ones, often sit near the front of the church; guess it is because those seats are usually the vacant ones.

As we waited for the church service to start, my mind wondered back to earlier conversations with two of my aunts. Both of them related that they had attended the Mizpah Church early in their lives and I wondered how many years ago that had been. Before I could figure it out, the service started and jerked my thoughts back to the present day worship.

The service started with a Prelude, Welcome, Announcements and Greetings. That was followed by traditional worship including Songs, Prayers, Collects, and Affirmations. Pastor Debra read her scripture text from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 17 and Verses 11-19. Ten lepers, outcasts of the community, quarantined and forced to live within boundaries were healed from the dreaded contagious disease of leprosy. Jesus healed them and said to them, “Get up and Go . . . show yourselves to the priest.” And there were boundaries, even in the midst of good. Pastor Debra Tompsett-Welch did an excellent job focusing her congregation on the importance of boundaries. She framed the scripture with a keen refreshing new insight that differed from the well-worn perception of ten healed, and only one gave thanks. I must say that Sheron and I were very impressed and listened to every word spoken that morning. It’s amazing how we can read familiar passages of scripture many times throughout our lives and with each reading find a golden nugget of spiritual inspiration. Amen and Amen.

It was such a joy to experience first-hand the enthusiasm of people excited about fellowshipping together. “Come and join us,” they invited. We joined them and had a delightful time of CD&C (Coffee, Donuts and Conversation). Two adult Sunday school classes met in the educational wing of the church. One class was a young married peoples’ class and the other class was . . . well more nearly our age. Both classes were large especially for a country church and both classes warmly invited us to visit. On this day, we visited the “been married a long time” class. My cousin Dianna taught the class and did a beautiful job.

During our travels, we have found that each church has a custom or tradition that is special for that church. A special tradition for the Mizpah church is a closing exercise that is held in the sanctuary following Sunday school. Everybody gathers in the sanctuary and waits for other Sunday school classes to adjourn and join them. When everyone is together, announcements are made; sometimes a song is sung and people have encouraging words to lift up Jesus throughout the coming week.  In our view, this church really has it together . . . it’s a great church and they will be glad to have you.  Services start at 9:00 a.m. each Sunday.

Until next time, share the nuggets of faith and encourage each other.

Ron & Sheron, Drivers behind the Windshield

Church in the Windshield

Mount Olivet Christian Church

September 15, 2019

One of the neat things about writing blogs is that we get to see (and write) about new churches and meet new people. This particular Sunday was no exception. We had just seen the Ark Encounter Museum and thought it was just out of this world wonderful and exciting (Please see the previous blog). On this particular Sunday though, we were looking for a church to attend in the Williamstown, Kentucky area. I got on the internet and began searching for churches in the area. One church that caught my attention and interest was the Mount Olivet Christian Church. Perhaps it was because the picture of it was a very modern up to date church or perhaps it was just a sense that we might enjoy

that church on this particular day. I showed the picture and write up to Sheron and said, “I think this would be a great church to attend today,” and she agreed. So we made the short drive from our camp ground (The Three Springs Campground) to the church. Lucille, our GPS, was most helpful when it came to finding our way. Upon arrival we saw this interesting marque. We stopped and studied the marque for a while and then took some pictures. There was just something about the marque that drew us to the church. Was it the stones . . . the cross . . . the mount? At any rate, we were excited to get to attend the church service.

We drove down to the parking lot and saw that the entrance of the church was ‘buzzing” with happy excited people . . . happy people that they knew about God . . . excited to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Certainly there was a warm and inviting spirit about this place.

There was a welcoming line that extended from the front doors of the church to the edge of the parking-lot. Both young and old extended their “hand shake welcomes” and greeted us with “Thanks for coming . . . we are so glad that you have come to worship with us today.”  Why, I suspect that there were at least a dozen people who greeted us outside the church that morning. From that moment on, we felt like we were a part of the church family. Upon entering the church, we were greeted by another group of people and they each in turn welcomed us. “Here is a bulletin for the worship service” they said. “Would you like a cup of coffee?” “Would you like to sign our electronic register so we can properly welcome you?” Like clock-work it went and soon we entered the sanctuary with a warm afterglow of being treated well.

The theater type sanctuary was most interesting with different colored lights and points of interest. Pink or blue lights outlined the stage and worship area. We thought it was nice touch.

 A cross in the corner of the sanctuary caught our eye; we focused on it and thought this church with modern media still keeps “the main thing . . . the main thing.” The main thing is the sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ. As we gazed upon the cross and the worship area beside the cross, we were reminded of Jesus being on the cross. A shadow of the cross on the wall reminded us of the past history of the cross and connected the cross to our present day understanding and meaning.

Our attention was then focused on the stage and worship area of the sanctuary. We observed the provisions for a praise band. Our minds wondered a bit while we prepared our thoughts and minds to focus on worship. We didn’t have long to wait though for the song leader invited everyone to stand and we sang a number of songs with the words printed on two giant monitors for easy reading. The singing was so upbeat and uplifting that we instantly experienced a sense of the Holy Spirit. God was indeed in this place.

The service progressed and Pastor Mark Messmore (new to Mount Olivet in July) delivered a very timely, ordained by God, message. The message presented in modern day style challenged our thinking and gave us a spiritual nugget of encouragement, grace and hope.

When the service ended, we had the joy of meeting and visiting with new found friends. One in particular, Jeremiah (not his real name) visited with us at length and we experienced a bonding friendship. We shall call his name Jeremiah meaning lifted up by God because he shared a God given gift with us. The gift he shared with us was that of listening, caring, and sharing God’s message. In this busy world, we sometimes forget how important it is just to communicate.

After a great time of worship and sharing, we headed back to the camp ground still in the warm after-glow of God’s presence. What a positive send off for our journey back to Kansas the next day.

When we arrived back at the campground, we decided to check our e-mails one more time before packing to travel and there it was. “You got mail . . . Thanks for coming to the worship service today.”

Until next time, safe travel, keep the faith and communicate God’s love.

Ron & Sheron, drivers behind the windshield