Shedding Some Light

Why Go to Church?

A reader wrote a letter to the editor of his local newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I’ve heard perhaps 1,500 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So I think I’m wasting my time, and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving those sermons.”

This started a controversy in the “Letters” section, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for several weeks, until someone penned this clincher:

“I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked perhaps 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I can’t recall the complete menu for a single one. But I know this: They all nourished me. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment these past 30 years, I would be spiritually dead today.”

Thank God for our physical and our spiritual nourishment!

—Nancy Yount
St. Louis, Mo.

Be Precise

My husband was working outside on a day he was expecting an important telephone call. So he put our two young children in charge of rushing the phone out to him when the call came in.

“Bring the telephone to me when it rings,” he instructed.

Twice he went inside and asked, “Did the telephone ring?”

“No, Daddy,” was the universal reply.

After a while, he checked again, but this time, remembering the ring-tone setting, he asked, “Has the phone beeped?”

“Yes, Daddy, it’s been beeping.”

It pays to remember that young children think literally.

—Nikki Pratt
Bethel Lutheran Church
Bryan, Texas