December 9, 2006

Mrs. Wright*

Urban legend? Myth? Gossip? Not sure. Somehow, however, her life seems so familiar to me. The story begins with the death of Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Wright was a fragile elderly lady, very thin, with white hair she wore in a bun. She was found in her small house, alone, dying in her sleep. Her house was full of stuff: newspapers, magazines, trinkets; there was so much stuff that the EMT's had trouble wheeling her out. (A lot of stuff.) The windows were covered with blinds that were pulled to the floor; above the blinds were curtains that were sun bleached and very dusty along the top. In the bedroom closet there were grocery bags full of money. There was a chill in the air as the heat wasn't on and it was only forty degrees outside. There was no food in the refrigerator, just some oyster crackers at her bedside and a little bit of water. Her neighbors
said she rarely left the house.

Her neighbors share that when her daughter was little and her husband was alive the little house was painted a bright yellow with white shutters. There were flowers in the beds around the house. The windows were always open and the wind would blow the handmade curtains into the middle of the small rooms. Over time things began to change. Her daughter grew up, moved away, and died. Some whisper that it was a drug overdose; others say suicide. No one really knows. Just a few months later her husband passed away and her life caved in. Actually on that day, she died, too. She shut herself in her home. Her house began to fall apart. Over the years the yellow paint faded and peeled until there were only streaks of paint left on the house. The windows were locked, room shades installed. Mrs. Wright started hording. All she had was her stuff; stuff gave her comfort. The outside world was changing; as the neighborhood changed, she become more and more frightened. She added locks on the door and secured the windows. She began to worry about money. She was utterly alone in the world. What if she needed the money for the nursing home? What if she decided to fix up her house? She spent very little, putting the money in grocery bags and keeping them in her closet. When folks would try to meet her or help her, she was short with them. She spent the last years of her life hording and barely hanging on. All the thingsthat she held dear were gone. All that was left was her house and stuff that reminded her of the past. She clung to the past when times where better, when she had joy. She never dreamed her daughter would go before her; that shouldn't happen, but it did.Everything was gone. Now Mrs. Wright had died, too. It is sad, as there were no survivors. Her house was sold to an antique dealer who opened an antique store in the old house. Her whole estate was inherited by the State. Years later few people even remember that Mrs. Wright existed.

I wonder if the church is going down the same road as Mrs. Wright. I wonder if the church has moved from serving to preserving. I wonder if the wonderment of following the leading of the Holy Spirit has shifted to a pre-packaged program. I wonder if caring for people has been reduced to a line in the budget that is to be doled out little by little each month to those we feel are truly deserving? I wonder if ministry has been relegated to paid professionals much like people who tire of caring for their lawns hire a gardener. I wonder if we are hoarding assets and stuff while the needs of others go unmet. Could it be possible that the resources held for the rainy day should be used, as it is raining right now? Could it be that our children who we thought would be the heirs of the church have slipped away with little interest? Has the world changed around us while we barricade ourselves in the church? Could it be that the church has been dying from the inside out? I'm not sure. I do know that many people I have met feel as if God has forsaken them. Perhaps they are not God-forsaken, but church-forsaken. Could it be that we in the church could find new life as we give up anything that is keeping us from reaching others? After all, Jesus says, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it". (Matthew 16:25)

*In Lupton's book he tells a sad story of the death of Mrs. Bailey (pp 95-97). After reading his story, I wrote the story of Mrs. Wright, while this story is fiction, it paints a picture of the way I see many churches of today.