Written and submitted by Cathy Pauley.
Since I am working in Kentucky for three Sundays, I felt it was important to find a LCMS church where I could worship, enjoy a Bible study and have fellowship. It has been a long time since I was a "visitor" in a church so I was a little nervous how I would "fit" in. I picked Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Elizabethtown, Ky.
It was interesting in my faith walk to feel and see what a visitor may see and feel when they visit our own church. I usually am pretty confident and semi-outgoing, but I was a visitor. I shook hands and took my place in the same location I would at St. Andrews. I opened the worship bulletin to study what the service would be. I marked the first hymn in the hymnal. However, I was still a visitor. I stuck out as a visitor. I was a stranger amidst the members. Nevertheless, a LCMS church is still a LCMS church. The order of worship was similar. Hymns were familiar. Reading Scripture was familiar. The message was on track. Then there was communion. I should have realized that most LCMS churches practice closed communion and as a visitor, there is a chance the pastor will want to speak to me ahead of time. I miscalculated that requirement. I read and re-read the communion card and worship bulletin to make sure as a standing member in the LCMS church I was exempt from speaking to the pastor or an elder. I sat in my seat while all the parishioners went up to take the Lord's Supper. There was a quick moment of awkwardness, as the members in my pew had to decide how to go around me.
In that moment, I had an "ahh-haa" moment. Do visitors at our church struggle or feel embarrassed for any reason? I hope I will be a better friend to people who are guests in our church. I am thankful that our church allows members of the LCMS and those who are in fellowship to commune with us.
In the end, it was all a blessing. I knew it was about worshipping God, not about my comfort. I was flooded with people introducing themselves at the end of service (even without prompting from the pastor). I told the pastor I would call him this week. I attended adult Sunday school and was invited to LWML Spring Workshop on Saturday.
I left with the knowledge that next Sunday I will not be a visitor, I will be family.
Blessed Lenten season,
Cathy
