The Echo Page Two

A SALVATION STORY WHICH MUST BE TOLD…..I arrived at church late one afternoon recently to discover several learning center teachers clustered around the down spout near the double doors into the narthex. “What’s going on?” I inquired and they told me that they could hear the sound of a cat in distress coming from the drain in the concrete. The lid covering the drain had been broken and, apparently, a cat fell or otherwise worked its way down into the drain pipe under the ground. Mysteriously, I noted, just the evening before as I left the church office a nest full of baby birds was nestled in the crook at the top of the very same drain the cat was now lodged in. Hmm, the birds were all gone now and the cats have appeared. I wonder? Anyway there was still the matter of a cat in distress even if it did have a belly full of baby bird. I suggested calling the fire department. Those guys seem to know how to get out of every tight spot. They had thought of that already and were told that animal control would be a better place to call. Instead they called for Dave Bonacker who is the church council member in charge of the property. Dave arrived and took over the scene with awesome confidence. He got a garden house and ran it down the drain – not turning it on mind you – he was just endeavoring to gauge how far down the drain the kitty was stuck. Lo and behold after the hose ran down the down spout a yard or two a large wild cat came scurrying out of the broken drain and made its way off into the woods! That would be all except that the meows of distress continued to emanate from the drain hole. Just how many cats were down there? I jokingly suggested out loud that we should get a shop vacuum Dave had already thought of that and he was on his way to go and get one! Ok the vacuum was not strong enough to suck a cat out of a hole in the ground (wouldn’t

that have been a real testimonial for a vacuum cleaner salesman, though?!) Dave then set about to trace the drain out into the church yard with a giant screwdriver and a shovel until he found a spot, just beyond where the cat calls were coming from, to dig down and open the underground drain pipe. With a bit of coaxing a slightly less energetic cat than the first one came stumbling forth to safety. All of this had to be told because it simply occurred to me that St. Martin’s is a place of salvation even for cats who have gotten themselves into a bind! You may not be a cat lover (I am actually a dog person) but you will still be glad to know that there is grace enough here even for dumb animals who are to blame for the mess they have gotten themselves into. The main reason the story must be told, of course, is that there is also plenty of grace for culpable humans who also need for a community of faith to rally around and help them become dislodged from whatever bind they cannot undo by themselves. As for me I was told, “You have a job; the next time you go to the hardware store get a new drain cover so that this does not happen again. For now we will cover the hole with duct tape,” (ah the universal patch for everything which ails you – duct tape!). I promptly took the broken drain cover to Hoods Hardware so that I could match its size and returned with just the right part to fix the problem, good as new.
This MUST be what the call to ministry is all about – not only saving the lost but erasing the temptation so that they won’t stray again. “Go and sin no more,” oh, and I do feel sorry for the bird that we could not do anything for but it’s just not a purrfect world (couldn’t resist the pun).

Love, Pastor Scott

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