Walk and Talk

Herreid, South Dakota is not known for its vast size. The powers that be may make you slow down in your car to 30mph while driving on US highway 83 through our town, but even at that low speed you’ll pass us all by within a minute. Our residents also pass through our town quickly on their way to school, work, or to other communities nearby. Some residents use their bicycles often. Occasionally, you may even see one pastor on rollerblades who is rather appreciative of a few newly paved roads. Many people walk up, down, and all around town for about half of the year. The other half of the year is known as winter.
Despite being a small town, we locals have a confession to make. We often fail to notice most things going on around us. Sure, the extremely overgrown yard or newly sided structure may dominate some conversations here and there, but for the most part we go about our business while bypassing our neighbors by foot and by vehicle. We rarely take the time to think about who they are, what they need, or how we could help them.
As a church we are supposed to rise above all that. We are called to be salt and light in our community. We are called to do good to all people as we have opportunity to do it. We are supposed to help those in need, especially the poor among us. Our master tells us that as we feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and visit the imprisoned, we do it all to him. He tells us to love one another as he has loved us. Just in case we forgot how much that was, our master showed his love for us by laying down his own life for us, even when we were still his bitter enemies.
We have messed up by trying to love our neighbors on our terms. Instead of being salt and light to our community we have settled for creating our own sub-community and then waited around for people to come to us. Only, they haven’t. We focus our efforts on buildings, programs, and offices, which are all good and necessary, but these efforts all too often come at the expense of our calling to be God’s people on the move. We end up not helping our community much. We do not pray for them as we should. We do not seem to have much compassion or love for them either. Frankly, we do well at telling them, without saying one word, that we are too busy for them. Is it any wonder they haven’t come to us?
Brothers and sisters, there are only two kinds of Christ-followers: those who are learning how to do it and those who are doing it. Following Christ stems from love. When we begin, continue with, and end with love, we will start having compassion for our neighbors. When we have compassion for them we will pray for them. When we pray for them—really pray for them with our eyes open to their needs and our hearts open to trying to meet those needs—we will help them. When we help them, we will build relationships with them. When we build relationships with them we will become salt and light to them as they piece things together.
This Sunday some members of our church took part in a prayer walk/drive around our town. We decided to walk up and down each neighborhood, asking two questions: What do they need? How can we help? Oftentimes in small towns gossip focuses on talking about what people need, often without anyone doing anything constructive about it. People need Christ, and Christ has tasked us with telling our neighbors about him. In a prayer walk God’s people think of how they can tell their neighbors about Christ with a simple question: how can we help them? Prayer is just one step, but an important one. I’m hoping we as a church can take part in more prayer walks, and I pray that soon our prayers will turn into actions.
After all these years, I am still learning how to follow Christ. I hope never to forget what God taught me on a blisteringly hot Sunday afternoon while walking and praying with some brothers and sisters. Thanks be to God that he graciously allows us to be a part of his life-giving work. Our very desire to follow him is a gift from heaven, and no matter where his people gather—in small towns or big cities alike—he is with us. May we continue taking him to our communities!