Paging through an old pictorial church directory can be an emotional rollercoaster. If you need a little chuckle, take one down off the shelf from fifteen or twenty years ago and reminisce about the latest fashion trends and hair styles. We always sported our Sunday best for picture day!
Comparing that old directory with the current directory is bittersweet. It's not just the fashions that have changed; it is also the people, themselves. For a variety of reasons, many of the people pictured in that old directory are not in the current directory. Reflecting on those missing people brings a tear to the eye.
Some brethren are missing from the current directory because they sleep in Jesus. Looking on their pictures reminds us of their Christ-like compassion and godly example. The enemy of death has repeatedly attacked our spiritual family over the years. Yet we look on these pictures with great hope and confidence of seeing them again in heaven. We recall how the local church was enriched by their presence and give thanks for their faithful stand.
Relocation explains why other brethren are missing from the current directory. A job transfer, a marriage, some new opportunity came along. Our families were good friends then; perhaps the children were near the same ages and played together. We're grateful that for a season these families were here: teaching the Bible, singing with us, door-knocking, simply sharing in the worship, work and life of the local church. Our loss is another congregation's gain. We stay in touch, of course - Facebook, phone calls, holiday greeting cards - but they are not here now.
A turn of the page, and we're faced with more portraits missing from the current directory. Here is a happy family 15 years ago but in the new directory, you only see her. They stunned the congregation with their divorce. The old picture is all smiles. They were hiding a failing marriage. They did not seek counsel from the elders or request prayers from the church. They did not talk privately to friends or family. They said, later, that behind closed doors things were bad. Yet at the time they pretended everything was healthy until all was beyond repair - just a bewildering announcement that it was over.
What really stings is seeing the kids in that old directory. Where are they now? Their parents and grandparents are in the current directory but the kids vanished - they're not in this congregation or any other. Saints grieved over their absence, at times, explain that the church did not have the right preacher or the right Bible classes or the right teen devotions. But for many of the kids in the old directory, they couldn't honestly say if the church had the right stuff because they weren't there.
For every season there was another sport - soccer, baseball, football, basketball, repeat. If it wasn't a practice, then it was a game; if it wasn't a game, then it was a play-off. This lifestyle of sports started in first grade (or earlier) and went on for 11 or 12 years! 11 or 12 years of hit-or-miss Bible class on Wednesday nights. 11 or 12 years of scooting into the back pew after worship began on Sunday. The parents and grandparents who were supporting, facilitating, and applauding all of those wonderful athletic exercises were consistently sending a message that the things of God are secondary - for 11 or 12 years. These kids learned their lesson.
Turn the page and find more bright young faces of yester-year. Sons and daughters were heading off to college soon. Where did they go? In all the excitement of gaining entrance to the best schools for their secular education, their spiritual health was neglected. Admission was coveted without concern of where the closest congregation of God's people was located.
"Don't worry mom and dad, I'll find a good church after I find my classes." Very few young disciples embrace atheism because they went to State University and their coursework required Evolution 101. Rather, their soul starved because they only bothered with church on Winter break and the odd weekend that their parents visited campus. The church was just too far and they were far too busy. Proximity of a local church should have factored in while selecting the university.
Other parents sought private schools - religious schools - to educate their kids. Surely chapel talks and academic Bible study would safeguard their children from the hedonism plaguing public schools. Yet indoctrination of false teaching can be doubly damning. At least in the public school environment it is clear that drunkenness is a sin and Evolution 101 is atheistic! It requires greater discernment to realize when a Bible professor is undermining doctrines of Inspiration, Inerrancy, or Authority with their lectures. These kids graduated knowing "better" than their parents about the Bible. They were dissatisfied with the book-chapter-and-verse preaching where they grew up. They're not in the new directory.
After a nostalgic chuckle and shed tear, I look to the current directory. In 10 or 15 years time, it will be the old one. Likely I'll pick it up and snicker at my hair cut and necktie. I may take an hour to reflect on it. What about the precious children, happy families, and aged saints all smiling in this one? I should pray for them today, picture by picture, that their lives will be spent in faithful service to the Lord. I need to build relationships with them today, household by household, that our fellowship would be rich and satisfying; that we'll be more than Sunday morning acquaintances, but truly a family of God. I need to be involved with their lives and try to influence them to learn from the victories and defeats of brethren who've gone before them - to take some lessons from an old congregational directory.
- Biblical Insights, Nov. 2012