January 6, 2010

Dear Friends,

 Mixed signals.
   Let me apologize to those of you who were using our in-house hearing assistance devices this last Sunday, and explain to the rest of you why those who were may have had confused looks on their faces. You see, they may have thought that the sermon was about when Limestone is going to reopen, and Chad’s prayer had to do with trash removal in the event of a major snow emergency.
    The reason? Mixed signals. I got the following email (slightly edited) from Michael R earlier in the week:
    It was brought to Stuart Talbert’s attention that a person or two using our hearing aids were picking up the city government information radio instead of our worship service. I just got off the phone with Stuart who has been looking into this since then, and indeed, city government is broadcasting one of those "tune into such-and-such channel to get information" kind of things now.
    Well, from what Stuart can find out, turns out that the relays that the city government is broadcasting (frequency) is either too close to ours or is overwhelming ours. According to Stuart, it probably isn't anything that the city is doing wrong; we just happened to be unlucky enough to be at the same frequency and in the way proximity-wise.
    Best advice from Stuart is that this is not something we are going to have solved by Sunday, or even we don't know exactly when. It may be that we will have to have our hearing aid system and units re-tuned to a different frequency. Don't know if they can be changed or whether it means buying new.
   Stuart will try to let the person handing out the units at the receptionist desk know on Sunday morning. Announcement will probably need to be made (although that begs the question whether those who need to hear the announcement will hear it). And finally, next week when there is a printed Chimes, we'll probably want to write about this.
   In the meantime, Stuart suggests a person having trouble with the hearing aid perhaps try a different location in the sanctuary, or even move the unit around to see if reception improves.
   Well there you go. Once again, it is obvious that Roseanne Rosanadana was right. If it’s not one thing, it's another.
   The truth is, of course, this glitch in the frequencies is a little parable of the challenge facing the church these days. There was a time when the church’s message was, for the most part, uninterrupted. The cathedral sat in the center of the city, the parish church sat on the town square, and competing voices were virtually non-existent. In 1843, Alexander Campbell, one of our founders, debated The Rev. Nathan Rice, a Presbyterian from Cincinnati, for sixteen days.  The subject of the debate was the interpretation of scripture and the nature of Christian baptism. They packed the house at the old Main Street Church (what Central was called before we moved in 1894) for up to four hours a day. No interference with the message back then.
   We, of course, live in a very, very different world. How can we make ourselves heard in the midst of all of the voices that compete for attention, time, and commitment? How can we speak a word that is clear and compelling? What will you say to someone who asks why Jesus is important and why the church should have a claim on a person's life? What we say and how we say it are both issues of importance. Let’s talk.

Glad to be your pastor, Central.

PS: After last Sunday’s sermon, several of you have reminded me why we know that the visitors to the manger in Bethlehem were not women:   Three wise women would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stables, made a casserole, brought practical gifts, and there would be Peace on Earth!