Before
it's everlasting too late.
Many Presbyterians think
of the “invitation” in terms of revivals; many of those my age
remember seeing on television hundreds of respond to Billy Graham
invitations to accept Jesus. We may associate the invitation with
tent revivals, Southern Baptists, evangelicals of Pentecostals, but
take a closer look at the directory for worship:
W-3.3501
An
opportunity for personal response may also be provided during this
time.
Although
largely ignored by white Presbyterians majority African American
Presbyterian Churches almost universally offer an invitation to
Christian discipleship, or as it is often put; the preacher “opens
the doors of the Church.” I was instructed in this practice at
the first church I served as pastor, which was an African American
Church. I faithfully opened the doors of the church week after week
after week, with only a very occasional response. After months of
this I went to the session suggesting that this was bad psychology
and we should only do it once a month. D. L. H..... looked at me
over the top of his glasses and said “boy (this was a sign that I
learned to pay attention to) you never know, the very Sunday that you
don't open the doors of the church might be the very Sunday some one
has come to church to give their heart o=to Jesus.” That ended
that discussion, but I found out that D. L. was much wiser than I.
The very next Sunday when I opened the doors of the Church Annie B.
J...... got out of her pew and came down the aisle. I don't think
she had ever attended that church before, I certainly had never met
her, although she lived within shouting distance of the church. The
session met with her following the service and she said she had been
sick and wanted to be saved before it was everlasting too late. She
seldom missed Church in the subsequent months. She was sick, she had
terminal cancer. I was her advocate when she was turned down for
social security disability and we won the appeal. I was at her
bedside as she was dying. Neither of ever regretted that she came
down the aisle before it was everlasting too late.
Carl
W..... was too ill to walk down the aisle, in fact he was too sick to
leave his house. He asked one of his friends who was an elder in the
Church what he needed to do in order to join the church. The elder
brought the question to the next session meeting and we agreed to
call him and arrange to visit him in his home. He said he was home
and we could come any time so the session walked down the street and
heard his Christian testimony and received him on the spot. We
informed the congregation and kept him on the prayer list until he
had recovered from his illness and began to attend on a regular
basis. He joined the usher board and eventually became their
treasurer.
Archie
C....'s wife was a long time member of the church but he was a very
occasional attendee. He had never been a member of any church, in
fact he had never been baptized. As we became acquainted I
discovered that he had been a heavy drinker and a gambler. According
to him he had done some very bad things. As time went by he became
more and more faithful in his attendance, always sitting on the very
back pew in a section with a number of other older men. I discovered
that he had been visiting several of the sick and shut in members of
the congregation and one of the older ladies told me that he said the
most beautiful prayer. Many of us asked him why he didn't join the
church, but he said he had been a very bad person. We talked about
forgiveness, about God's grace, but he continued to hold on to his
seat in the back pew. He said he hoped he wouldn't wait too late,
but he was waiting for the Holy Spirit to move him. Every time the
doors of the church were opened there were many prayers going up that
this would be the day that Archie came down the aisle, but years went
by and Archie held tight to his seat in the back pew. We thought of
wiring his seat to give him a shock so he might think it was the Holy
Ghost moving him out of that pew. The day finally came, and Archie
did walk the aisle, there was much rejoicing in Grace Hope, and
presumably also in heaven. I baptized him by immersion in the 80th
year of his life. In the process of drying off and changing clothes
I ended up packing up Archie's towel and he mine. We never made the
exchange. I still have the towel, although it is only a dust rag
now, but I think of Archie every time I use it and how he finally got
saved before it was everlasting too late.
