The Wanderer for Wonderwhat (10)

(Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17)

What will grow from this tiny seed?
“I’m a farmer who’s been given a packet of seeds with no label.” Thought the Wanderer. “What am I planting here? What will it look like? Will it be a small shoot, or will it grow big? How do I take care of it? What do I look for? How do I tell the difference between weeds and the real thing? How much water will it take?”

“I can’t do this. This will never work. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

The Wanderer looked at the small group of people gathered in his brother’s house. The silence that hung over them was beyond awkward…it was suffocating. The Wanderer tried his best to fill up the space with conversation, but every attempt was met with minimal response. It was clear that everyone was wondering what this was going to be, as much as the Wanderer.

He surveyed the room. There was his brother, cradling a guitar on his knee, waiting to lead a few songs. There was his brother’s wife, a young mother who had learned the artful technique of being present in two worlds at once. She was physically with the adults, but her ears were attentive to the noises of the children down the hall. There was the Wanderer’s wife, who wore a similar look, but because she was a guest in someone else’s house, her attention was less divided.

Then there was the single girl, who had come to the meeting because her friend from work had mentioned it. Her friend didn’t come, but had heard about it through a chance encounter with The Wanderer’s sister-in-law.
There was the engaged girl, who had come because she was friends with someone the Wanderer had been friends with years ago, and had heard about a Bible study, and she was hungry to learn about the Bible.
There was the young, single man, who had been invited by the single girl, and wasn’t sure why he was there.

“This will never work. What are we doing?”

The Wanderer screwed up his courage, and said, “Well, I guess it would be cool to just spend some time worship God together. Lets sing a few songs, and just get our minds on Him, and lets relax a little, we're just hanging out, there are no expectations here.”

His brother led three songs. The Wanderer had hoped that maybe heaven would open during this time, and some great sense of wonder and awe of finally finding the simplicity of church would envelope him and whisk him away into spiritual bliss. All he had noticed was a slight tingling sensation in his buttocks, from sitting on a hard wooden chair.

The Wanderer got up, and gathered a stack of papers he had set beside his chair. He walked around the room, handing a sheet to each person. “I’ve put together a small Bible study. It’s nothing much, just a few observations and questions about the Sermon on the Mount that I thought we could discuss.”

“This will never work.”

The study never ended, the discussion led to one question after another. It was late, and everyone needed to get home, so reluctantly, they called it quits. The women busied themselves with gathering up empty dessert plates and coffee cups. Hugs all around, and final handshakes.

The single girl came to the Wanderer and said, “I really appreciate this. I learned more in this one discussion than I had in a year at my last church. And I love the way we’re doing this, it’s just so relaxed and comfortable. What a great way to learn the Bible! This is exactly what I’ve been looking for!”

The Wanderer watched as the last car drove away, and stood in the glow of what he had hoped he would experience. This was real. This was simple.

“This may work.” The Wanderer thought.