Are “U” missing from our “COMM NITY”?

The north face of our building has been looking a little sad of late. Office staff arriving at the church found the big “U” of our name lying in the foundation planting next to the building. A couple of attempts have been made to get it re-attached, but results to date have been lacking. Maybe God is trying to tell us something.

Because, really, the whole fellowship of the saints here at Emmanuel “Commnity” Church feel a little sad, when we think of people who are missing from our fellowship: people who have gone missing because they were hurt and not cared for, people who felt bored or unengaged and saw no reason to keep coming back, and people who haven’t been attracted or reached out to. People that we’ve failed.

The thing is, though, that we DO care about those people. We humans aren’t always good at showing how we feel about one another, but we wouldn’t be feeling sad if we didn’t care about the people we are missing. We wouldn’t be missing them, if we didn’t care about them. We make mis-steps and put our feet in our mouths. We get stretched thin and drop the ball on things. We let our prejudices taint our love. We hurtpeople. But that’s why we are part of this fellowship: because the church is a reformatory for sinners, not a museum for saints. Because God is still working on us.

Our prayer for everyone that we have lost, and everyone we haven’t yet found, is that you are part of a loving community where you are accepted and supported. But I am sure that there are some of “U” who are, like the big black letter from our sign, lying where you fell, cold and broken on the ground. And if that’s you, and you can find just enough faith and forgiveness to reach out — call the office at 403-272-1551, or comment on a post, or email Pastor Laura — then we promise we’ll try our best not to fail you again.

Because our “Comm nity” just isn’t complete, without “U“.