Knock it out of the park when you welcome others to church

by Guest blogger

by Amy Vigesaa

My family recently spent our vacation in Grand Marais, Minn.  It is our favorite place to go, and we treasure our time there. I love it because it gives us space in our time together; we can breathe.

I also love it because my kids are content to climb rocks, go for hikes and search for agates without their eyes glued to an electronic device. They enjoy the time spent together as much as my husband and I do.

Because our time together is so precious, we hesitate to share it with others outside the family. We value this as our family time.

But we decided to do something different this trip, something we hadn’t done before on our vacation trips. And the outcome surprised me. We decided to bring our baseball gloves, a bat and a ball and go down to the campground baseball field and hit a few balls, maybe play a casual game.

Can we join in?

As we were playing, a couple kids came up to the fence and watched us. Pretty soon, they asked, “Hey can we join in?”  We said sure, and they jumped in and played with us.

Then another kid came and asked if he could join in. And before we knew it, the families of these kids came over and asked if they could join in!  We ended up having three or four families playing baseball together; laughing and cheering each other on.

We weren’t keeping score or playing competitively, just having fun.

Image for the church

What great image for the church. We have this family that we love and enjoy so much. But we are always called to widen the circle and invite more people in.

So when someone is standing at the fence and asks, “Hey can I join in?” the answer should always be “Yes!” And when they come, we should cheer them on and encourage them.

Soon, they’ll see what it means to live in the heart of grace.  And, in the process, we will too. And that’s a beautiful thing.

Amy Vigesaa has worked in the ELCA for 25 years, currently for Easter Lutheran Church in Eagan, Minn., as a worship leader and small group coordinator. She enjoys leading women’s retreats, both as speaker and worship leader.  Amy is a wife and mother of five living in Farmington, Minn.

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