Lavon Drive Baptist

August 6, 2017       YOUR WORD

Thank you for the reading of Your word.  May each word bring knowledge of Your desire for my heart.  May it also be a word of wisdom on how to handle certain problems.  I love the grandkids.  May they have a good day. Thank You they are in church.

Church. A place we all gather and worship. A safe place to feel welcome and loved. Growing up there I remember being terrified of the church. I am thankful today of a place to gather, worship and love on the other broken people around me.

Lavon Drive Baptist Church

I grew up Baptist. It is a generational thing. Your parents were Baptist, you were Baptist no questions asked. The first church I remember was Lavon Drive Baptist. I was terrified of this church. My mom would take me every Sunday, and every Sunday I would drag my feet and do everything I could to be late. Being late was not an option, so she wrangled me in the car and off we went.

Sunday School was walking into a lion’s den. The church had a school attached so most of the kids were friends from school, and not very welcoming. I was shy as it was, so the least amount of attention was better. There were sword drills. These were not voluntary. You hold your Bible over your head and the Sunday School teacher would shout out a verse. The first one to find it wins. The school kids ALWAYS won. I remember going home and trying to make tabs in my Bible so I would have a fighting chance… because looking in the Table of Contents was not an option.  There were random questions thrown out and you were called on. One time I remember a question about, “Who was one of “Jesus Disciples?” Simple enough. I was so terrified; everyone was looking at me and I quietly said…  “Jesus.” I mean the answer is always “Jesus. Right?” They laughed. I was mortified.  I was saved at this church mainly because the thought of burning in hell did not seem like fun option. I am pretty sure they put extra pressure on us that day to make the numbers sound good at the end of the service.

The service was in a large, theater style auditorium. Everyone always sat in the same spot. The pastor would get up and ask if anyone was visiting and you stood up and introduced them. When my Grandmother came with us, my mom would always stand up and say, “This is my Mother Lorene Case, she is visiting us from her sister church Haughton Baptist.” At the time, I do not remember my Grandmother going to church, so mom just said my Aunt’s church to be safe.  Can you imagine if you just said you did not belong to a church?!” Blasphemy.  On Mother’s Day you always had a corsage and a specific color if your mother was alive or passed. Dress code was always below the knee, with hose and closed toe shoes.

The last time I remember going to this church was on Easter. We had to sit in the balcony because our normal spot was taken. There was a young mom who came in with two kids. She looked frazzled, but you can tell it was Easter and she wanted to go to church.  I was around 8, her kids were probable around 2 and 4. They did not know the “rules” of church. If you moved, you got pinched. There was an unspoken fear of moving in church or causing any distractions. Her kids were moving, I remember one shouting out a cry. I froze. My mom froze. We looked at each other like, “What do we do?” I could tell in my Mom’s eyes she wanted to get up and help this lady. Before we knew it; the pastor had stopped the sermon, looked up at her pointed and said, “Can someone go take those kids out of here?”  We never went back. The car ride was quiet on the way home.  I pray that young Mom found someone who showed her the love of Jesus, because we all failed that day.

I recently saw a post on social media about this same subject. Thirty-five years later and the mentality is still the same in some churches. It said, “how incredibly inconsiderate, rude and terrible (it as in all caps) that a parent would let a child be a distraction in the church Christmas musical. They had nurseries for a reason.”  My immediate thought was anger. I thought of this young lady in that Easter service years ago. No one stood up for her and here someone else was bashing her behind a computer screen. Why did he or anyone else not get up and offer to help? Maybe because we have forgotten what church is all about. Church is not about the musical productions, choir, how big the auditorium is- but about the love of Jesus. Broken people gathering.  

Just like anything else, there is not a perfect church. I laugh if Jesus would have walked in Lavon Drive they would of asked him to leave with his long hair.  I was fortunate to find a youth minister who loved people like Jesus did. Let us not miss the opportunity get up and help that young mom, we do not know what is going on in the lives of people… but we know Jesus would of gotten up, taken her by the hand and calmed her babies down.   Jesus does not care about how great the choir is, how big the auditorium is, or how nice your clothes are. He just wants you to know how much He loves you. When you know that, your heart changes.

Mark 10:13-16 “And they were brining children to him that he might tough them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ” Let the children come to me, do not hinder them, for to such belongs to the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever doe snot receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. And he took them in HIS arms and blames them, laying hands on them. ”