Tree Huggers, Church Decorations, and Evangelism

We have a department (or "ministry" for church people) of our church called "Environmental Worship".  It sure sounds a lot like the people who love and worship the environment. We love clean water, the rain forests, and everything green.  Algae is green too, but we really don't love that.
I actually started and named this "ministry" a few years ago.  We didn't have this group and after attending a conference in Colorado, I was convinced we needed it.  The part you need to know is it has nothing to do with rain forests and the earth's environment.  It has everything to do with the environment of the church.  Allow me to explain a bit.

At this conference in Colorado, we saw videos of church services in an old warehouse.  People have church in the most unsuspecting places.  People also feel like church should look like a church and not like a warehouse.  So we decorate.  But like anything else secular in church, a decorating committee doesn't sound very church-like.  So we come up with the Christian version of a decorating committee and we call it environmental worship.
This committee gets together to discuss what the environment will look like, smell like, even feel like.  Incense, flowers, styrofoam blocks. These are our tools.  Shopping carts.  Yes, even shopping carts.
Our church is having a food drive. People bring in cans of food and put them on the floor of the lobby. Some scattered around, some in plastic bags, and even some in nice environment-friendly bags.  It was a mess. Food scattered on the floor of the lobby doesn't look inviting. It doesn't look like an organized event or that we need any more.  Enter the Environmental Worship team. Time to make it look nicer. What should we do?
If anyone knows how to decorate food displays it would be the grocery store. So I looked at a few and sure enough, we needed a shopping cart for our lobby to put the food in.  I know a parishioner who works for Publix.  In fact, she has worked there for more than 30 years.  I called my friend and asked her if we could borrow one for a while. I told her if they said no I was going to have to steal one for our use so she should keep me honest.  I don't think I would have actually stolen one, but lucky for us she came through.
I went to the store and I am not sure what fanfare I expected, but they simply told me "Just take any one you want. They are over there." Nobody walked me out. Nobody watched to see if I selected only one. They really didn't seem to care if I took one or not.
As I loaded the shopping cart into an SUV with my assistant, an older woman was putting groceries into her car. She casually glanced at us as we stuffed the shopping cart in and closed the hatch. As I looked at her she quickly looked away as if to say she didn't want any trouble.  She didn't know. She didn't know we had permission. She didn't know we worked for a church. She didn't know we were using it for a food drive decoration. I didn't tell her. And that's it, isn't it?
People say sharing the truth of the Gospel with a stranger is hard. I say sharing any kind of truth with a stranger is hard.  I was hoping the older lady in the parking lot would ask what we were doing. Then I could explain easily. If she started the conversation, I could talk all day. How easy to explain what we are doing.  In the same way, I wanted the Publix manager to ask what we were doing.  I wanted people to notice we were taking the cart so I could tell them about our church. But it's not how evangelism works. We go and tell people. Tree huggers are great evangelists for the environment.  They tell people what they believe.  People don't come into our churches asking what we are doing. We have to go and tell them. The great commission.  Go tell someone about your church and what you believe this week, then comment below to tell others how you did it.

Orange You Glad I Said Lemon?

I am amazed at the difference in foods across the world. What we cannot grow here in the United States we can import. We have an abundance of interesting foods. In my travels, I have noticed how mixed up the foods can get. In my trip to Africa last July, we were shown 3 different kinds of bananas.  We had some of the more famous jackfruit, and saw small fruits I can't seem to recall the names of, but they were tasty.
We also saw sweet potatoes that look like our white irish potatoes. In Africa the very same sweet potato we know as orange is white over there.
In Costa Rica the citrus fruit is really mixed up. On one hike along a river, I noticed a tangerine tree. We had purchased some tangerines earlier from a store and they were very sweet. Now it was my turn to climb through a barbed wire fence and pick a few to eat. Now just to be clear, the barbed wire fence was to keep cattle from getting into this area near the river. I was not stealing from private property, or at least that is what was told to me.
As I approached the tree, our host yelled out from the road, "I think those are lemons!"
Now of course I come from the State of Florida, one of the largest growers of citrus in the U.S. Not to be outdone in knowledge of local fruits, I replied to him in jest, "I think you may be colorblind. Clearly these are tangerines!" I did notice many un-ripe fruits on the tree that had a yellow tint to them so obviously from the road they would look like lemons.
I picked 5 or six of the ripest ones on the tree. Never have I seen such wonderful tangerines! I brought them back like a hunter that had been on safari for 12 days and made a kill that will feed the village for weeks. I proudly threw them up the hill to my waiting friends so I would not lose them on my climb back to the road.
"Did you taste one?" came the shout from our host as he caught one. "Not yet, but I will now!" was my reply as I peeled into the fruit. Yep, same texture skin as we all know for a tangerine that peels so easily.  These even look like they might be seedless!  A good, dark orange color inside says they are ripe and ready to eat. Looks really good!  Now the first bite, and.....wow! Maybe this one isn't quite ripe yet. Or wait....maybe it tastes like something else I know. Perhaps a lemon?
My gracious host began to tell me all the wonderful things they make with these lemons.  He told us that the yellow fruit that looks like lemons as we know, are also here in Costa Rica, but are not very strong in taste. These lemons are used to make ceviche, and great lemonade.
How many lessons in Sunday school did we have on how God doesn't judge us by the outside, but by what is on the inside? Don't judge a book by it's cover sound familiar? Yes, I was reminded of this lesson once again. And as I thought about the many uses for lemons, I thought they probably go really well with humble pie too.