Last Sunday I was dunked in a pool of water at church, but it wasn’t baptism. I slipped. I took a chance and tried the double water slide Pastor Leisha reserved for our church’s Celebration Sunday. I made it to the end of the slide just fine, but when I stood up to get out of the water pit at the bottom, my foot slipped and I went down. I was completely soaked, which I guess is the point of a water slide, but I wasn’t planning on it. Everyone laughed at me and then cheered me on to go down the slide again.
Maybe it was seeing me and others unintentionally dunked in a pool of water at the end of the slide, or maybe it was the look of slight terror on some of the kids faces as they “caught air” on the way down the slide, but for some reason one girl felt unsure about attempting the slide. But the other kids and her parents continued encouraging her to try. “See, even the little kids like it.” “Come on! You can do it!” “It is soooo fun! You have to try it!” Finally, after almost everyone else had gone home, this one girl tried the slide—and she loved it. She slid again and again, getting faster with each slide and gradually mastering her landing in the now completely full pool of water at the end of the slide. It was beautiful to watch her and to hear her laugh and squeal.
Thinking back, this scene made me think of the communal life of the church. Some people in the church have been “doing” church forever. They can anticipate when it is time to stand in the worship service, they know where to find particular passages in the Bible, and they are experienced in applying what they believe to the way they live. Not all people in the church are this comfortable with Christian life—not all people in the church are even Christian yet. It is the work of these experienced and the not-so-experienced Christians to encourage other people to give Jesus a shot. In the church, in the community of faith, it is each and every person’s job to encourage other people to take a leap of faith—to respond for the first time to the love of Jesus, to join a Bible study, to go on their first international mission trip, or to start giving an offering to God. It is the work of the community to encourage the ones who are uncertain and hesitant to try the slide and see how great it is when you splash into the water of new life.
Sunday—the whole day—reminded me of the importance of the community in individuals’ lives of faith. Bishop Willimon’s sermon pointed to the power of the United Methodist connectional system. Talking to the Honduran Mission Team on Skype (in worship!) helped me remember that even though only 6 people travelled to Honduras, they were there because of the gifts and prayers of the congregation, their family, and friends. The delicious pot luck lunch, without formal planning for the food, provided more than enough for the crowd gathered for worship, demonstrating for us the big things we can do when everyone shares in the work. And then, of course, the water slide. Oh, the water slide. Even when people (I) slipped and fell, it was great because the whole crowd just cheered them (me) on to get up and try it again.
