Alignments

I was sitting in one of the comfortable chairs after Mass on Sunday waiting for Mrs ERJ to finish with whatever it is that she does after Mass (it might involve some conversation).

A first-time attender at our particular church settled into one of the other chairs and informed me that this was the first time they had attended in many years. They wanted to talk. I like listening.

If I had to guess, I would judge they were about 40. I got lots of details which I will not share in in public, but I learned that they had spent over a decade in the military and were a recent arrival in mid-Michigan. I also learned that life had been a s4!t-sandwich this past year and they were at a fork: They could either swirl-the-drain or throw themselves into volunteer work.

The Very Next Day

I got a call from Southern Belle. Her vehicle was leaking prodigious amounts of coolant and she was in a parking lot in Charlotte more than ten miles from Casa ERJ.

When I got there, there was some-old-dude helping her. His baseball cap read "MARINES: There is no upgrade!" or something similar.

I took a good look at his face. "Mike?"

I bump into Mike about every five or ten years. He is very active in helping vets in Eaton and Calhoun counties and is nominally a member of our church but attendance is...well...once every five or ten years. "Very active" means he is going to two or three activities every week.

The Alignment

The gospel reading last Sunday was very short. John (who was arguably Jesus's favorite) was bent out of shape when somebody who wasn't an apostle did good works in Jesus's name. John thought it was diluting the brand.

Jesus rebuked him. Paraphrasing, "All good comes from God. Doing good and attributing you motivation to God does never dilutes the brand. Rather, it strengthens it."

What are the odds: A newbie hanging on after the service, sitting in a chair next to me and telling their life's story, bumping into Mike the next day and recognized him, and a scriptural reading very directly telling us to think of the church in a very broad and expansive way?

I passed Mike's info to the church office and cyber-stalked the Newbie on LinkedIn and messaged them that there was information there waiting for them.

Our church might or might-not be a great fit for the Newbie and that is OK. But based on Newbie's narrative, Mike's friends are very likely to be his tribe and the s4!t-sandwich won't sting as bad.