I found myself between the old Rock and Hard Place this morning.

First, the glorious part:Worship this morning was fabulous! The Holy Spirit was rocking that little country church this morning, and by happy coincidence, I seem to have brought my A game with me. The music was grand, the house was full, there was an angelic, chubby, rosy-cheeked baby girl who received the Sacrament of Hospitality (my current new name for baptism), who cooed and kicked excited legs as if on cue, and laughed with delight when I poured water on her head. 'Nary a dry eye in the house after that one, let me tell you!

Did I mention a very full house? Family guests for the baptism,and mandatory attendance for rehearsal for the children who will participate in next week's pageant were some of the reasons that our little sanctuary that holds 150 'cheek-to-cheek' had 100 people in it. It feels good to have the seats full. To preach and hear the words being absorbed by my brothers and sisters instead of bouncing off wood or wallboard is very, very satisfying.

We had several visitors who were neither the baby's family nor regular members dutifully bringing thier children to rehearsal. About a week or so ago, you see, a church in the next town over had a tragedy. A UCC church burned to the ground, cause yet unknown, but foul play not suspected. This church was 114 years old with original stained glass and pews. It stood proudly amongst the other curches on Church Row in town, right between the Methodists and one of the flavors of Lutheran.

We had several families visiting today who were displaced from that church. I happen to know that the leadership of the church that burned very quickly got on the horn with other churches on the same street or within a few blocks and put together a worship schedule for the burned-out congregation, so that they could all worship together in the same neighborhood, if not in the buiding they all loved. I was so surprised to see folks with us this morning, one week after their church burned down.

I saw some eyes light up during coffee hour at the realization that we might be able to get some new members out of this tragedy. I just don't know what to make of this. I try to find out right away if visitors are members of another church because I will not try to snatch away members from somewhere else. At the same time,I know that sometimes God calls people to change worshipping communities; heck, I grew up Assemblies of God for crying out loud!

What do I want, you ask? I will be happy to provide a place for people to worship while they decide where it is that God is calling them. I do not want members of the church pressuring visitors to transfer their membership to us. No matter how much it could help the budget, no matter how much a shot in the arm it could be to the Church School program.

That's the place in which I find myself: wanting to reach out to these people, at the same time respecting their pastor, and knowing that that other church will need all the members it can retain to rebuild. Yet, know that God might call a few of these people over to us, even with the denominational differences.

Yet another thing that was never mentioned in Seminary!