by Pam Tinsley

Last month, I had the joy of serving as a supply priest at a small church tucked near Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Mountains of Western Washington. It was a beautiful, sunny, summer day, and the church’s windows were open to allow a gentle mountain breeze to refresh us during the service. Windows behind the pulpit and altar opened to a parishioner’s magnificent garden that contributed stunning flowers for the altar. There were also windows on the other side, facing the town’s main street, just steps from the front door.

Thanks to the windows – open or closed – you can’t help realizing that the church isn’t secluded or insulated. The windows are an ongoing reminder to worshipers of the integral relationship of the church and the world – both the community and God’s creation. As if to emphasize this connection, an historic train runs up and down the track immediately across the street from the church. So, even while we were in church worshipping, we were also in the world.

Just as I was preaching about Jesus casting seeds with wild abandon, my words were drowned out by the sound of the train whistle! I saw the senior warden helping lift the small children of a young family so that they could see and wave to the passengers, for that was the day that a very special train engine had come to town: Thomas the Tank Engine!

Just as church bells are a call to worship, I was reminded that the train whistle for this congregation is a call to serve God’s people. It’s a reminder that worship and everyday life are closely entwined and that the purpose of our weekly worship isn’t to isolate us from the world, rather to prepare us to be Jesus’ hands and feet in the world.

Can you hear the whistle blow?