Nevada
Act 20:27-28
27 For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. 28
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy
Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He
purchased with His own blood.
— NASB
I have an affinity for church buildings. Not so much new and extravagant
churches, but the ones that are weathered and community built. They tell
me a story about who they are without any spoken words. Those small
brick churches in the middle of less than prosperous communities, whose
lawns are small but mowed, usually by a church member. There is a swing
set in the side yards which says they welcome children and families. Then
there is a sign on the side door that says that the food pantry will be open
from 9-noon on each Saturday and the clothes closet is open on the 3rd
Saturday of each month. Those Christ Followers are the lifeblood of that
community, and they know their people.
But, in the desert the churches were mostly white and weathered more
from the heat and the wind, than from neglect. They are small, because
there are not many people in the surrounding area, and they often stand
like sentries against the vastness of the desert. I imagine that everyone
who was connected to the church probably had a key because there was
little of monetary value. However, if something was needed and taken,
then that was OK, too. I saw a lot of those churches on my trip.
In fact, I discovered a church like that twenty- five years ago on my first
trip west. It was actually a combination of a community and a desert
church. It was constructed of white weathered cinder blocks and siding on
a Main Street corner in a town that was past its prime. My sister, my kids,
and I had been traveling through Utah on Sunday and had not seen a
Baptist church all day, but Monday as we got off 1-40 for gas, we rode
down the main street and there on the right was Ash Fork Baptist Church.
We stopped, but no one was there. This was not surprising since most
people who pastor desert churches have to work multiple jobs to fulfil the
call to serve.
We jotted down the name of both the church and the pastor in our travel
journal. It is a long story, but when we got home, my sister contacted the
pastor’s family. A year later, I brought a group of students from Mars Hill
College to stay for a week. We arrived in time for Sunday night Bible study.
There were more of us than them. Ash Fork was our third stop on a month
long service trip, and my students were tired and very underwhelmed by
this little church in the desert. They had been in San Francisco the week
before and this town did not impress. I had given them a stern “talking to”
before we went in, and they were as polite as chastised young adults can
be. As the pastor was finishing up, the members began to pray for the
things that small churches pray for: the sick, the community and their
families. When we were just about through, an older woman, who was
wizened by the desert just like the building itself, began to pray. She said,
“Oh Lord, thank you for bringing these young people to be with us here in
Ash Fork. Sometimes it feels like you have forgotten us here in the
desert.”
Ash Fork was the only place on that trip where the students cried when
they left. I took several other groups to Ash Fork over the years. It was
there in that desert that I began to see its beauty and hear the voice of God
speak through the many surprises that brought us all together. But it was
that prayer of beseeching God to see them in the desert that has haunted
me for years.
During this season of isolation and disruption, I have heard people voice
their sense of being forgotten in this pandemic desert. As Beloved children
of God, it is my greatest hope that we know that we are never alone. When
that promise resides in our head, but not our heart, bravely, reachout to
someone.. Without reluctance, call a family member, a friend or a pastor.
Even in the desert, there are people who will meet you there.
Prayer:
Dear God, please send us people to stand with us in the desert. Help us
find churches that will be present with us in all the creative ways we have
learned this past year. Infuse our lives with Love and Hope. Amen.
Ash Fork, Arizona