Are Visitors Really Welcome?

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On the outside of most church buildings in my Faith you can see the phrase "Visitors welcome". On 17 December 2023, I attended church in Gerasdorf bei Wien (Formerly the Vienna V Ward) in which I served as a missionary for 12 weeks back in the beginning of 1999. Granted, I don't remember many of the people from that time, and I was only there briefly, but it was telling that, for the most part, people only came to talk to me because I sing. The service opened with "Es ist ein Rose entsprungen" to which I not only know the tune and words but for which I also sang the Tenor part, and they have zero tenors in that congregation. It was immediately evident to people who had not noticed me, most of which because I arrived ten minutes early and was already seated in the rear of the chapel, that there was someone behind them who is not normally there. I am still not sure if I felt welcomed by the congregation.

Who greets you tells you a lot. Neither of the missionaries assigned to the ward ever talked to me, despite the fact that they were standing in the entry when I walked into the church. I don't know if they decided since I knew my way around and the language better than they that I must be a member already, albeit from a different congregation, but even after learning I was a visitor from the United States, they still didn't speak to me. Maybe it was because they were female. THe first person to greet me was Brother Hegedusch, whom I don't remember, but whose name I remembered. A counselor to the bishop, who was absent, came to greet me; turns out I did know him, but he was 16 when I was there (I was 19 at the time) so we didn't recognize each other (Brother Mayrl). A few other people greeted me and shook my hand, but they did not give their names.

Who talks to you afterwards tells you a lot. No women said anything to me until afterwards. THe choir director tried to rope me into coming to choir practice, but since I was going to be in Berlin on Christmas Eve that made no sense to me. She wanted to hear the Tenor part to the songs they were singing. Most of the women were obsequious with their praise of my voice as well as my pronunciation and vocabulary, which I know to be pretty much a load of bullshit actually. I even told them I have unlearned much, but I think they are just so shocked that after 25 years I know what I know when I clearly don't speak German to native speakers on a regular basis. My accent is atrocious, but I participated, and I was a single male. THe woman beside me was first; her husband had been in the ward, but she was a convert, and she was very interested, having been baptized only shortly after my departure. I mentioned some members I knew by name, several of whom were dead and others of whom were absent, and then one man proclaimed to one name, "That was my father." He invited me to dinner with his family and has since kept in contact with me even though he remembers Elder Dodge (the Zone Leader) and not me (at all).

Who remembers you tells you a lot. During the meeting, a man across the aisle kept looking at me. I remember Brother Schmuck well, but he didn't stay for Sunday School, so I didn't get to talk to him. He is the only person there that I recognized immediately. Some were grown up from the children I had known, and some were individuals I knew by name, but nobody who stayed seemed to remember me. Granted, twelve weeks isn't very long, but apparently I made no inroads with them at all, at least not with those who were there. Maybe if the Husz family had been there or the bishop himself I might have had a better experience, or if I had been there in 2017 instead when others were still alive. Too late now in any case.

I attended church in this congregation because it took as much time from Wien HBF to Gerasdorf on the S1 train as it would to get to any other building using the buses, and because there was a chance I might know someone. It was disappointing to not "come home" as it were to a ward in which I had lived once upon a time. The other places in which I served, excepting Neumarkt am Wallersee, are too inconvenient to be easily reached on vacation for church, and so I didn't go there; most of them were pretty small congregations anyway. Innsbruck had barely 30 members at the time. I felt welcome, I just didn't feel "welcome back" let alone "welcome home". I might as well have attended any congregation in Vienna and had similar experience, since the members in attendance either didn't remember me or didn't want to. I still wonder why Brother Schmuck looked at me because he said nothing. The Dospils, who invited me for dinner, invited me back, which was nice, but I really knew his late father better than he, which is a shame. I guess I put the work first rather than the relationships. I don't know that it was a mistake, but it definitely made me just another visitor, albeit one who rode the train to the end of the line to attend where visitors probably rarely ever attend.

God Gives Only Good Gifts

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Sometimes I complain about blessings disguised as trials. One of the speakers on 17 December 2023 during church in Gerasdorf Austria made a comment about how some gifts come "batteries not included" and it made me think. As a child, I was never disappointed about a gift that didn't come with batteries, because I knew it COULD be fun as soon as I had them, and I knew that my parents would buy me batteries because that's the kind of parents they are. If we truly believe that God loves us, even if he gives gifts that don't seem to be the gifts we like, we know that he will make sure that the gifts will eventually bring us joy. Whether they are ready to use or not, He only gives good gifts.

Sometimes batteries are not included. We often have to put energy into things on our own before they can rise to their full potential. Maybe God gives you a talent or an opportunity, but you don't get the job if you don't apply and you don't learn a piece of music if you don't practice. Sometimes the blessings God gives us require our own effort.

Sometimes assembly is required. Not everything we receive is ready right out of the box. Maybe we need other pieces from other people or other experiences in order to fully assemble it. Not everything can be assembled with an allen wrench; not all of God's blessings can be found in an Ikea. However, like the Good Father he is, God will also help us put things together if we ask, especially if we are working to make it so and putting in the work required to show we value the gift.

Sometimes gifts are not immediately valuable. Jogging shorts make less sense in the winter than flannel pajamas. Savings bonds take time to mature to their face value. Sometimes God's gifts are not something that we can use right in the very minute that we get them. And of course they come when we actually need them.

Sometimes the gifts are not for us. An emergency gift may not be something you ever use. First aid kits may not be exciting, and you may never use them, but it is better to have one and not need one than need one and not have one. You may never have to use it for or on yourself, but you can be a blessing in the lives of other people. In fact, a plurality of God's gifts are given for the edification of others. Tongues, healing, teaching, etc., are all gifts of the spirit that are used to bless OTHER PEOPLE. But you get to be a blessing, to be God's hands in their lives, and other blessings come from that too.

In rare instances, blessings are conditional. You may have to qualify. We know from reading about tithing that God will open the windows of heaven and pour you out blessings, but if you don't pay tithe, don't expect God to shower you with blessings. We know from Shadrach Meshach and Abednego that if you don't eat what God prescribes you can't expect to live a healthy life with a perfect body. Every blessing is predicated on obedience to the law on which it is predicated, which means God's blessings come most often to those who are obedient to God's law. He typically doesn't bless wicked people over those who would have him to be their God.

A gift from God is always something that can bless us and bring us joy. Just because some assembly is required or batteries are not included does not make the gift unworthy. These kinds of gifts are invitations to make them everything that we are willing to make of them. God is willing to make everything of us, and we will get out of his gifts what we are willing to get out of them. We may receive some, or we may receive few, but everyone receives at least one gift and nobody receives all gifts. The gifts are to improve our lives and help us improve the lives of others around us. And sometimes God blesses us so that we can bless others in his name. Whether you wanted flannel pajamas or not, if God gives you them, it's because he knows that in some way at some point it will be for your good. And eventually God will give you the batteries too.

Looking to the Stars

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While traveling in Europe last month, I ended up having to change my accomodation in Vienna and ended up in a mixed dormitory room with five strangers. The second night, we got involved in a discussion, and we ended up talking about the stars. Some of my roommates were critical of particular belief systems that rely on or draw reference to the stars, which prompted some unexpected thoughts from me. It has always been a human thing to look at and to the stars, religiously or not.

As soon as men began to travel, men began to use the stars for guidance. At least in the Northern Hemisphere, constellations, in particular Ursa Minor, were used in order to orient yourself for travel. Ursa Minor contains the North Star, which is used as a major reference point. Even if you didn’t have that or couldn’t use that, you could orient yourself and know your direction and in some cases your location based on what time of year and what constellations appeared respective to your position. From Odysseus to Magellan, explorers in all ages used the stars to find themselves and to find their way.

In cultural practices, including religion, men use the stars for guidance. Visiting any of the Mayan ruins, you can plainly discern among the stele still extant that the Mayans used the stars and the celestial sphere as a guide. From planting crops to calendar events to religious rites, the positions of the stars relative to stones on the plaza told the Mayans where they were and when they ought to act. For many cultures, the stars are representations of their deity. Even Paul the apostle spoke of bodies celestial in his letters.

Today, we still use the stars for guidance. Unfortunately, too many of us turn to movie stars for guidance, but religion and navigation still play a part in the lives of many people. Religious or not, we watch the skies for eclipses, meteor showers, and other celestial events that inspire us and help us mark the passage of time. Of course the stars appear each night and disappear during the day, which helps us mark each day of our lives. Some of us still find inspiration in the heavens and look to the actual stars.

No matter how you look at it, the stars have always shown people their place in the universe. One star in particular, Sol, which you call “the sun” gives us the light and heat necessary to maintain our existence on this planet. Minor shifts in our distance from the star would snuff out life as we know it. The rest of us use the stars as a reference to move ourselves from where we are to where we would like to be. Whether religious or not, we look to the heavens to find our place. Stars help us to find our place still and find our way to where we would like to be.