calypsoDragon13: Texas Trip -- a fourth telling

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Texas Trip -- a fourth telling

Dragon Mood? -- stirrin' up my dragon memory

[I am at our pied-a-terre, typing this on a borrowed laptop. I'm not used to typing on a laptop, so this feels awkward. Hopefully, my words won't reflect the feeling in my fingers.]

I want to pick up my story from last Sunday . . .

One of the things that Aunt Doris pointed out to me is that for every child baptized or person confirmed in the congregation, there is a person or couple who "sponsor" that child. They promise to pray for them, to help them, to affirm them, hug them, give them rides if needed. It's a powerfully affirming dynamic because the child feels taken in, not by some impersonal entity like a "congregation," but by specific individuals who have smiles and hugs and loving care for them. The sponsors are invested in that new member, taking a very personal interest in their daily needs, general well-being and spiritual growth. It is all so very concrete; there is nothing abstract or theoretical about it. I'm sure that is not a unique dynamic for many congregations, but I must say that I've never seen it in action in such a powerful way as I did there.

The congregation is aging. Many silver, white and even blue-haired heads dotted the pews, including Doris and Hemie. The community is changing; at first, I wrote dying, but that's not true. It is definitely changing. It used to be blue-collar whites. Now, it is poor, black, Mexican and first-generation immigrant Asians. It is definitely changing.

In all my days on this earth, I don't think I've ever been in a place that embodies what the Good News is about more fully than that congregation in Port Arthur. I don't believe I've ever witnessed a group of people more clearly putting into practice what the Gospel preaches than there. It wasn't about money or power or success. It wasn't about big fancy buildings or big preacher egos or even what people wore to church. It was about people touching one another's lives, connecting with each other, caring about one another...ultimately, loving one another, plain and simple. It was also, most importantly, about sharing the love of Jesus.

On our drive to the church, Ruth and I passed two churches, churches with large buildings that were closed, empty and totally shuttered. They were churches of mainline Protestant denominations. Another church, built in the style of a "colonial" Baptist church -- white southern plantation columns and all -- had been creatively converted into a Buddhist temple with upturned corners on what had formerly been the church spire. That was quite amazing to see and just a bit amusing.

Reflecting on those closed or altered churches, it made my aunt and uncle's church all the more remarkable for its resilience and redirection. While others close, this congregation grows. While other churches' members move away to more affluent neighborhoods or simply die out, this one's members welcome young, poor immigrant children and teach them English.

I spoke to Aunt Doris the other night. I told her that my experiences there in Texas were still reverberating for me. Think slow-moving ripples across a pool of water. Is there more? I don't know.

Here are the other postings (so far) from my Texas trip: