When People are No Longer There I was never a big fan of the show “Cheers” when it was originally aired. Over the years I have watched a few of the re-runs. The neat thing of the program was the characters and the relationships they had with each other. You could walk into that tavern and people knew your name.
I got thinking about this after I stopped at my bank. Over the years there was one teller who actually would greet me by name. One day she was no longer there. I never did find out what happened to her.
Recently I was in the bank and looked over to where “Brandie,” the closest to a personal banker I have ever had, had her office and the sign on the cubicle no longer had her name on it. I asked the teller and she said that “Brandie” was no longer employed there. She was gone. She was the person who got me doing online banking and who helped me get my “debit card.” In the church, the same thing happens. There was a pew where certain people used to sit. It is no longer occupied. The people for whatever reason have become uprooted and disconnected from the body of Christ. They are suffering and we are suffering because they are absent. Read I Corinthians 12:12-26 for a Biblical understanding of this. We as the body of Christ sin in this matter when we don’t make any effort to help them return to the altar of grace. Too often we just think that is their problem and so we “do nothing.” In doing nothing we are failing to show the love and concern of Christ Jesus toward the absent brother or sister in the faith.
As we enter our congregation for each Divine Service we are gathering with fellow believers in Christ Jesus who confess and believe as we do. People may even know us by name. More important than that is the fact that Jesus knows us by name. He has placed the name of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, upon us in the water and Word of Holy Baptism. We belong to Him. He is the Head of the Body we call the Church. It states in Isaiah 43:1, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!” What comfort it is for the believer to know who and Whose he is!
For our lack of concern for the absent brothers and sisters, Christ Jesus calls us to repentance. St. John states in I John 1(selected verses): “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
We approach the absent with our own repentant and absolved hearts. We are reaching out to fellow sheep who need to hear, believe, and follow the voice of the shepherd. For is the Good Shepherd Jesus who forgives us all our sins and grants us eternal life for His own name’s sake. Jesus says: “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.” “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.” John 10:9,27-28. God help us to reach out to those for whom Jesus Christ laid down His life for their salvation as well. If your congregation desires training in how to do this, contact either President Brian Saunders or Dr. Dean Rothchild at the District Office.
