[I've been slow in posting this week because my mornings have been taken up with playing in the band for our church Vacation Bible School.]
Yesterday morning, in our men’s Bible study group, I was informed that the mayor of Coppell (where I work) had died in what was presumably a murder/suicide the night before. This was shocking to all of us because on the 4th of July, we had her here in our worship service where we honored her with a plaque for her service to our community. About 4 weeks before this, she had been on campus along with Chamber of Commerce members giving her annual state of the city address.
We hear stories like this all the time, but this one has been shockingly close to home.
I work in a church, so we see a lot of births, wedding and funerals. Strangely, though, I didn’t see this nearly as much at the previous church I worked at – well, except for the births, there were a lot of those. I think the difference is all about location. That was a very open community and commuter location. This is a very small, secluded community and we are one of the mainstays of the neighborhood.
In less than a year of working here we’ve buried two infants, seen a local middle schooler die tragically, and lost a number of adult parents of our church members. At my previous church, I know that we conducted a couple of funerals in my time there, but they didn’t really seem to effect the whole church or community at large.
After having worked so long on the video that we played the day the mayor was here and participating in the 4th of July parade, I feel a lot more connected to this community and so things like this are just a lot more pronounced, I guess. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few days and weeks as the community processes what has happened and we determine how we can reach out and support those who have been affected.
I think what you’re saying is true to the extent of comparison to how the 2 church environments were effected differently to tragedy, but in all do respect you need to take into account that your previous church never had to experience the tragedies of this magnitude. Not as it directly effected the church body as a whole. Maybe certain people here and there, but the number of tragic losses that First Coppell has endured in the recent year or so is suffice to say overwhelming. I am deeply saddened by these events an my heart aches for the community of Coppell, please know that we are praying for healing, understanding, and growth for your church and the community.
Robert
Robert,
Thanks for the response. I had considered saying more in regard to my former church, but I didn’t want to be too long-winded. 2 things come to mind: 1) opportunity and 2) environment.
I’m not saying that my former church failed in connecting to the community or responding to tragedy – far from it. I’m just, more so, contrasting my personal experiences.
I will say, however, that FBC Coppell has been very intentional in connecting to the community on a civic level – this has a lot to do with the church being 100+ years old. I think that many churches have become very insular and distanced themselves from their neighborhoods. Here in DFW that is particularly the case because there are so many huge, commuter churches that draw from 45min-1hr away.
So, again, I didn’t intend to disparage 121, but rather to confirm FBC in our engagement which is as much a corporate intention as it is personal/individual.
Thanks again for the comment.
I didn’t think you did at all, I think that the perspective you have is totally on. I was only suggesting that the comparison was a lil off merely because of what you said 1.) opportunity and 2.) environment. I said that your prior church didn’t have to go through all that and thinking about it now, for the sake of community I pray that church community never has to experience this kind of tragedy. Like I said earlier it pains my heart to think of how people that have been directly involved with those lost so suddenly are left to cope. I do however find it encouraging that your church community was involved with the ones passed, because it speaks clear as day that those families have a berieving church family to help. And that the community has an anchor to cling to through the days ahead. Even more so that the anchor itself is based firmly on the promise of Christ’s love, compassion, and salvation. Hope that cleared up anything I might have been foggy on.
Robert
thanks man. no worries. I just thought it best to further explain myself since I had been thinking those things myself earlier in the day.
appreciate your thoughts.