Why You Can Never Go Home Again, And Don’t Really Need To
While some folks say, things aren’t what they used to be, I say, yes, but they never were what they are now.
I am a historian by nature. When I visited the Litchfield Congregational church, built in Connecticut in 1721, I tried to imagine all the sin-weary souls who had come to hear the Gospel preached for over three centuries inside those consecrated walls.
Later, when I went to see the Rays and Red Sox play at old Fenway Park, it was not enough to watch the game. I had to picture what it must have been like for a father taking his son out of school to attend a game back in 1912. Millions of people with memories of that old ball park, and my mind wanted to capture them all. I walk by an old high school building built in 1927 in Tampa, and I have to stop and try to imagine all the scenes that may have taken place. All the loves and relationships that began on that campus. I stand on the sidewalk, looking at an old glass window. I ask myself, on the last day of school in 1942 did a young man stand where I stand now, and glance for the last time at a young girl he had a crush on standing in the window, before leaving to join the war, never to return?
In 1991 I drove to a remote little town in extreme western Oklahoma, to preach. When I arrived at the church, I went downstairs to get water. While downstairs I saw several Sabbath School classrooms, all totally vacant and abandoned. The elderly couple who invited me home for lunch explained that all those rooms were packed with children back in the day. But they all grew up and moved away to find jobs. The husband was the school master back in the day, but had since retired for decades, and, with no children around any more, the only traces of the school were distant memories. I remember a feeling of sadness coming over me as I thought of the hollow classrooms once full of life. I can’t say if it was the evangelist or the historian in me that made me wish there was a way to fill those classrooms with lively children again.
Over the years those hollow classrooms occasionally haunt my mind. Of course in my lifetime, I have seen changes in my own childhood church. It still has a thriving church school and Sabbath School department, but when my friends and I go home to visit, we remember days gone by when the church was much fuller. But I have to keep in mind that when we were kids our church was The Adventist Church in the area. Today there are several Adventist churches in the area, and there really is no “The” Church now. This is where the evangelist in me wars with the historian in me. The historian in me wants to re-create the church I grew up in. I want to go home again. The evangelist in me rejoices that there are new churches, and the gospel is being preached all over the area now, instead of in just one place. I understand my childhood church is slightly smaller now because people are spreading out to other churches to share the gospel beyond my little neighborhood.
Now my mind looks back to those empty Sabbath School classrooms in the middle of nowhere in Western Oklahoma. Is it really sad that the kids grew up and moved on to bigger places where they could find jobs? Not if moving gave them more opportunities to share Jesus with those in need! Now I look back at those empty classrooms in a different way. Maybe the primary Sabbath School teacher did not realize it at the time, but she was doing a lot more than teaching the children in her small town about Jesus. She was training them to be missionaries and take the Gospel from those little rooms and spread it all over the world! The historian in me looks into those vacant rooms and sees a church that died. The evangelist in me looks into those hollow rooms and sees scores of children leaving those sacred halls to share the Gospel in new places, meeting people around the world who need Jesus.
The church is a movement, not a history museum. The church is a people and not an old building standing out in a field where there used to be a town. While reality tells me that many of the kids probably left the church, I am sure many stayed in the church. Many of the children who filled those old Sabbath School classrooms in western Oklahoma took the church with them when they moved away! The Sabbath School class did not die in those classrooms in western Oklahoma; the class just outgrew its walls! They grew all over the world! I look back now and realize children with whom I sat in Primary Sabbath School class in my home church are now scattered from the South Pacific Islands to New England and beyond. And you know what’s cool? We left four walls we used to meet in, but we never left the church. We took it with us! Just as importantly, we never left each other. We are in touch on Facebook and Sabbath School Net, where we still share ideas from theology to evangelism strategies. And of course we still get together personally when we can. A couple years ago, a former classmate, now a teacher, helped me put my Bible curriculum together while living 1200 miles away. You see, our little Sabbath School classroom did not die. Just the opposite. We grew so big we exceeded the boundaries of our four little walls.
I believe it to be the same with the little classrooms in a small town in Western Oklahoma. If I ever get a chance to return, and I hope I do, I will go downstairs and look into those empty classrooms again. This time instead of trying to imagine a class that once was, I will see a class that still is and even more. I will see a classroom that has grown into something much bigger and greater than it ever was. I won’t see a class that died in a little room. I will see a class that grew all over the world to help people all over the world who need Jesus.
When I think of my experience in the church, I realize in one sense, I can never go home again. The building I worshiped in as a child will never be what it was. That’s just fine. It was never meant to stay what it was. It was meant to grow. It was meant to grow beyond those walls into the rest of the world where people need Jesus. My church is now all over the word. So in one sense, I can never go back to my home church again. In an even more real sense, my home church is all over the world now and is everywhere I go. And the even greater reality is, that I’ve never been home and never will be until Jesus comes. While the historian in me wants to reminisce about the way the church used to be, the evangelist in me says to keep growing the church. It’s not finished yet!
Wonderful perspective! Sometimes we also look back with rose colored glasses and think of the “good old days” but there were just as many problems as there are now - we just weren’t aware of them. Can’t wait to get to my heavenly home and see those who left those childhood walls.
Wonderful piece! Thank you Pastor Williams, we are sojourners, we shall continue to grow as we move closer to our destination in Christ. We don't need to reminisce endlessly over the "good old days".
Stay blessed dear Pastor, your post came on my 30th anniversary!
While some SDA church leaders say, things aren’t what they used to be, Are we suppose to say, "yeah, but they never were what they are" Especially regarding
Dressing, and fashion's influence??
Sometimes we feel the need to go home(20th century) when we see how 21st century's members are dressed.
How can we help conservative church leaders to understand that the church is a movement and not a museum even though dressing and fashion's influences can lead us to not consider those who are in need around us??
"Almost as soon as they come into the world the children are subjected to fashion’s influence. They hear more of dress than of their Saviour. . . . The display of dress is treated as of greater importance than the development of character. . . . For fashion’s sake they are cheated out of a preparation for the life to come.
It was the adversary of all good who instigated the invention of the ever-changing fashions. He desires nothing so much as to bring grief and dishonor to God by working the misery and ruin of human beings. MH 291"
Congratulations Lebon to you and yours on your 30th anniversary!
Lebon, every generation has had their challenges. The early Adventist church struggled with tobacco, sexual immorality, and many other things. Reading the 9 volumes of the Testimonies will open our eyes to the fact that the early Adventist Church has always had its struggles. On the other hand every generation has had their good points too. The key is to keep what is good from each generation and overcome what is evil about each generation. Yesterday's generation may have had it right with dress reform, but they didn't have it right about everything. Today's generation may need help with dress reform, but they are not wrong about everything. Dress reform is just one issue. We need to keep pushing forward in becoming totally whole and complete for Jesus.
In study of EGW on the test of faith. I noticed that Mrs. White spends, by far, the most of her emphasis on the test of our “appearance.” She says that the appearance is one of the first things we change when we receive the Presence and Unction of the Holy Spirit. She goes on to say that this is one of the tests as is health reform and other conditions of lifestyle, language, etc. (The conversation of our life)
Dress and appearance is a more truthful test when it is dictated by the Holy Spirit and not the church. But this does not mean that should not be a subject of discussion.
As dress and appearance becomes more dictated by sensuality and demonic influences, I think it would be well to have some dialogue to think through how the Love of God would motivate us in our choices in our appearance. “Just because I like it” doesn’t mean it is Godly. We may still have some of the old man of sin in us that we don’t realize until we think the issue through with the guidance of God’s Spirit of Love and Holy Scripture.
One of the best Articles I've ever read,so great and true. Often a times, we grieve over what/how it use to be, but now i will rejoice because we are carrying it with us wherever we go. Proudly an Adventist.
Reminiscing is what many older people do. We try to remember years gone by and the things that we remember that we have done. This is what filled these pages of William Earnhardt. Thank you William.
I love this article. From His calm eternity, no matter how things may appear, our Heavenly Father is slowly working out His wonderful plan. To me, William, your words seem like an enlargement upon the concept expressed in Ecclesiastes 7:8-10. The world is full of angry conservatives trying to resurrect the "good old days," but Solomon is evidently calling them foolish.
Wonderful article. Just reminded me a conversation I had with my sister recently where we were saying his camp meetings in our home area used to be huge, drawing congregations from far. At that time, they used to be held at one central place which was far and many people could travel and attend. In some way, we were saying how those big meetings were lively. Nowadays, camp meetings are held in several places and have smaller congregations. This article has really changed y perspective about the situation
Thank you all for taking the time to share your thoughtful comments. I always appreciate hearing from you all!