Mom and Pop Stores

One of the sad things I've seen on the news lately is the closing of yet another "Mom and Pop" store. This time, it is the H. Hamada store in Kaka'ako. For four generations, the store provided all sorts of items, from groceries to even caskets at one time (see http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703270302 for an article on the closing of the store).

Now on one hand, it really isn't a great loss. In terms of finding groceries, sundries, etc., your local Wal-Mart, Costco, or Safeway provides all of the things that Mom and Pop store provided and more, usually at lower prices. Higher costs of doing business, intense competition from the larger corporate stores are what is driving the Mom and Pop stores out of business. Many cannot provide the goods and services that a sophisticated group of customers which has higher expectations requires. They simply can't compete.

But on the other hand, there is something great that is being lost with these Mom and Pop stores. It is the feeling of family and aloha, of intimacy and a "home away from home."

Maybe that's why I tend to go to a place like the new Kalapawai Cafe for a cup of java in the morning, rather than Starbucks. I don't really have anything against Starbucks, and still will go once in awhile, but there is something special to me about locally owned businesses which use products from locally owned companies.

I've been thinking about how all of this relates to churches. Mom and Pop style churches are a vanishing breed. They are declining and even closing at an alarming rate. The rising costs of keeping a church open, the intense competition from mega-churches like New Hope, Hope Chapel and First Presbyterian are daunting for smaller churches. The mega-churches can provide the "goods and services" that people want, often at higher quality. The smaller churches just can't compete.

Or can they? I don't think that the mega-church is for everybody. I think there are a lot of people who want the Mom and Pop feel but with a higher level of quality.

In my Natural Church Development training, I've been learning that smaller churches can actually outdo larger churches in 7 of the 8 Quality Characteristics. The only thing that mega-churches are clearly able to do better on a consistent basis is the quality of worship.

Our church is in a very exciting position. We are small enough to provide a Mom and Pop feel, but large enough to be able to provide significant ministry (we are currently averaging about 230 in worship). We can't, however, just sit on our laurels and think that we won't go the way of Mom and Pop stores.

We must consistently raise the level of quality in our church at all levels (such as improving our facility), while maintaining a level of intimacy. I think the key to the intimacy is continuing to grow more small groups. That way, even if we do grow larger in size, people won't feel a loss of family and aloha. As one pastor said, "I don't mind growing larger, as long as we grow smaller," referring to small group development.

As we move forward in seeking a vision for what God wants us to do, it is important to keep that in mind. I want us to do what we can to preserve the intimacy of warm, family congregation, while raising the quality of what we do for the sake Christ and His church.

More Salt

Since my last post, I have had several conversations about salt during Bible studies and other settings. Here are some more interesting thoughts on salt and how it might be used as a metaphor for the Christian faith:

One of the members of our Wednesday Morning Bible study, as we were discussing salt, mentioned that her mother dyes fabrics professionally, and that she had "pallet after pallet of salt in her basement." The salt is used to draw the dye into the fabric.

Another member remarked, "Oh yeah...when you use Ritz dye, the instructions call for using salt.

In another study, someone remembered that it was commonplace to soak bright colors in salt, to permanently seal the dye into the fabric before washing.

So salt as a something that gives permanence is a wonderful image of the permanence of God's love for us in our lives...it can never be washed out or taken out of the fabric of our lives.

Another use of salt was as money: the word "salary" itself is taken from the practice of paying Roman soldiers in salt. So salt as something of great value is an image of how God regards us as extremely valuable because of the grace that is in us through the priceless gift of God's grace through Jesus Christ.

Salt is used on icy roads to clear the paths of travel and keep vehicles from sliding into danger, just like faith in God can keep open the pathways of hope when we meet obstacles and danger.

And finally, salt is used as a key ingredient in the process for making ice cream, one of the greatest culinary gifts ever...certainly a great image for grace...THE greatest gift ever....

Salt

When I was a child, I remember that church members (my dad was a pastor) would bring back fish for our family from their fishing trips. It would often be more than we could eat in a day or even a couple of days. I remember that my dad would pull out this interesting contraption: it was basically a large, hinged wooden box with a screen on the top. My dad would line it with newspaper, open the screen door, and place the fish in it to dry in the sun. The screen allowed the light and heat from the sun in, but keep the flies out.

What was important was that my mom salted the fish beforehand, as a preserving agent. It would, of course, give the fish a lot of flavor.

Even though we had a refrigerator, my mom and dad often used the screen box to prepare fish that way. I'm pretty sure that's what they did growing up in Korea with little or no refrigeration, and that's how they preserved the fish, but they also learned to like eating fish like that...maybe with a bit of nostalgia as well.

When I visited the South, I learned to love salt cured country ham (especially if it came from Virginia, Smithfield or Williamsburg in particular). These were prepared this way to keep the meat from spoiling

The ancient Hawaiians valued salt very highly and used it for many different purposes. One of them is a purification ceremony, in which Hawaiian salt is mixed with water for healing (see http://starbulletin.com/2001/03/05/news/story2.html).

Salt is also used in pottery, added to the fire at a certain point to form unique glazing patterns.

Salt has come into some bad press in these contemporary times for causing hypertension, etc. But for most of history, the image of salt has always been a positive one: purification, preserving, healing, seasoning, beautification.

In chapter nine of Mark, Jesus talks about having salt in yourselves. He had earlier talked about how everything that comes out of a person is unclean (pretty vivid image, if you have to think about it). But if one has salt in them, the whole host of good things happens: healing, preservation and purification of our souls; flavoring our lives; putting a unique stamp of beauty on each one of us.

Pretty good image....

Tale of Twelve Years

This post is about two people in Mark, chapter 5 (and not how long it might have felt between this and the last post!!). After Jesus has encountered the demoniac among the Gerasenes and exorcised his demons, he is met by a named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue. His daughter is dying, and he pleads with Jesus to come see him and heal him. But before he can get there, he is surrounded by a great crowd pressing around him and the disciples.

Suddenly, Jesus wheels around and says, "Who touched me?" The disciples say, "Are you kidding? Everybody!" But he focuses on one woman, who Mark says has had a slow flow of blood for twelve years. This would have meant that she would have been regarded as unclean by the society and an outcast. She believes that if she just touches Jesus' garment, she would be healed, and that's exactly what happens. Jesus even feels the power leaving him, which is why he ask who touched him. One of the people in our Bible studies thought that maybe this was the only "involuntary" healing Jesus ever did.

Jesus shows great compassion for this woman and tells her that her faith has made her well. But she is not only healed, but she is now restored into a wonderful relationship with God.

In the meantime, however, Jairus' daughter has died. What good does it do for Jesus to show up? But he does anyway. And in the presence of the household, Jesus raises Jairus' daughter.

The thing that is interesting is that Mark makes sure that we know that the daughter was twelve years old. I'm not sure why he does that, but it is striking to notice that Jairus' daughter has lived on earth that same amount of time as the woman has had the blood flow. Is there any intentional coincidence? I don't know.

But it is powerful for me to think that two people--one who grew up with privilege and one who lived as an outcast, but each for twelve years--were both given a new lease on life by Jesus. And that promise is there for each one of us....

Tear the roof off the....

In chapter two of the Gospel of Mark, there is this wonderful story about a paralytic:

Mark 2:1-6—When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." (NRSV)

Jesus had become so renowned that he had a tremendous SRO (standing room only) crowd at the house. Then four people brought their friend who had been a paralytic to have Jesus heal him. The crowd was so big that the four friends actually went onto the roof and dug through it (can you imagine what the church board of trustees might say about that?) just so they could get their friend to Jesus.

What dedication! They could have told their friend that it was too crowded…maybe they could go another time. But they didn’t…they took the risk of digging through a roof, doing whatever it took to get to Jesus.

It makes me wonder about how you and I might let obstacles, distractions, and challenges keep us from getting to Jesus.

In the movie “The Untouchables,” Jimmy Malone (played by Sean Connery) asks Eliot Ness (played by Kevin Costner), “What are you prepared to do?”

What are we prepared to do when it comes to trying to reach Jesus? Let the other things in life take priority and squander opportunity in this time, in this moment to experience the life changing power of Jesus Christ? Or do we do everything we can to access the grace of Christ?

Something to think about, and something to hope for. Thanks for reading.

P.S. Did anyone recognize the song reference in the blog title?