Beyond the Fish Gate
One of the things that always brightens my day is listening to people read the Bible out loud. You suddenly get to names like Bezalel and Oholiab and one of two things happen. Either the person reading speeds through it hoping no one else is going to question their pronunciation, or there’s a pause where you can see the wheels turning in their head. I’ll let you all in on a secret… Nobody is comfortable saying those names and the rest of us are just glad we weren’t the ones having to attempt pronouncing them in front of anyone else.
One of the reasons I love this so much is that it triggers a thought process of who is that person and what did they do to make it into the Bible. Bezalel and Oholiab? They were the primary builders of the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. They enabled generations of Israelites to worship God and the created the quintessential symbol for early Israel, yet nobody remembers them, let alone feels comfortable trying to pronounce their name. But they have one major thing going for them, they are immortalized in the Bible. People hundreds of years from now will still read their names, even if it is mispronounced, and will discover and rediscover that these two guys helped change the course of history.
You’ll find countless names in the Bible of people who helped do something that seems trivial. I mean, basically half the book of Nehemiah is just listing names of people and families and telling you what they did. But when you take just a moment to think about what their work actually means, you will never be disappointed. Take the sons of Hassenaah who built the fish gate. This passage really does get lost in the midst of all the other repairs and lists of people working, but this gate was the main way into the city from the sea of Galilee. The majority of the protein people ate was fish, and so this one gate allowed an entire city to be fed safely. It’s a huge deal, even if it sounds ridiculous and forgettable.
These people probably had no idea that their names would be attached to their work for millennia through holy scriptures. They certainly didn’t do it for that purpose. They did it because it needed to be done and it was something either God asked them to do or their religious leader.
I have great news, you have the same opportunity! There is stuff that needs to be done and your religious leaders are asking you to do it. We need more volunteers in just about every area of our church. From nursery workers, to greeters, cooks, coffee fellowship, small group leaders, ushers, kids ministry volunteers, youth workers, sound techs, camera operators, singers, counters, gardeners, data entry, and so much more. We need you. And while some of these things might almost sound like they’d fit right in with the fish gate, they are all just as important as the fish gate actually was.
When we talk about greeters, the gist of that job is just to say hi to people and to be a friendly face. Seriously, that’s like 90% of the job once you count opening doors for people. But what you don’t see from the outside is that almost every guest will determine if they are coming back to a church int he first 5 minutes of being on campus. That clock starts from the time they turn off of HWY 98, not when the service starts. So by the time they find a parking spot, figure out where they are going and walk to the sanctuary, our greeters are the last line of convincing them that we are a church family that they can belong to. A greeter by themselves can make a family feel welcomed, loved, and safe. And when you think about the hundreds of guests we have a year, all of them are met at the door by a greeter, and the ones who come back are because our greeters did a good job. It’s such a vital part of the church life and yet we often dismiss it as just saying hi to folks.
Every aspect of our church and volunteer opportunity’s matter. It might not be immediately apparent why they matter that much, but without any single one of those things I listed above our church would fail to be an obedient church.
I can’t promise you that by serving your name will be immortalized. But what I can promise you is that serving God will never return void. You will be a blessing to so many others, and as a selfish return, your own life will be blessed, even if not in the ways you expect.
If you want more information about our volunteer opportunities, please stop one of the staff, call the church office, or talk to guest services. You can even fill out a connect card or talk to anyone wearing a blue Navarre polo shirt. We’d all love to help you get connected.