A 911 COMMUNITY?

 ^"And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"  (Luke 18:7-8)

This morning as I drove my car across the Walpole, MA town line, I noticed a small posted sign that I guess I've never noticed before.  It was a small white sign with black lettering on one of those poles that they typically attach a speed limit sign to.  It read, "A 911 COMMUNITY".

For a split second I thought,  "Now, that's odd.  Why would you need to announce that with a road sign?  Doesn't every municipality in Massachusetts have 'Dial 9-1-1' to contact the Police and Fire departments?"   In fact, I think most now have "Reverse 9-1-1";  they can call your landline phone to report important emergency community news.   A couple of seconds later, I realized the sign looked old.  It was probably at least twenty years old, and likely older than that.  When "Dial 9-1-1" was introduced to communities in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was a very big deal.  I remember the days when a City or Town's police squad card would boldly proclaim the police station telephone number.  In Massachusetts, most fire department's phone numbers used the digits "1313" and most police departments used "1212".  Of course, you could always dial "O" for Operator and get the police department or the fire department that way.  The whole "Dial 9-1-1" thing offered a number that was universal and easy to remember.  Children in elementary schools were taught to "Dial 9-1-1" for emergencies.  Today, at least half of the households in our state don't have a landline phone anymore, and many of us call 9-1-1 from our cell phones wherever we are.  In that case, 9-1-1 calls actually go to the State Police and not your local town police, but the State Police can transfer you to your local police station (if necessary) in a split second.  Yes, that "A 911 COMMUNITY" had to be from a bygone era when it was important to let motorists know that if they had an emergency in the Town of Walpole, the would only need to "Dial 9-1-1" to get help.  It was their way of telling folks theirs was a cutting edge community and help was only a phone call away.

The whole 9-1-1 thing this morning led to my mind wandering.  We really don't need signs at Town borders anymore which proclaim, "A 911 COMMUNITY"; but similar signs may be needed at (of all places) the entrances to certain church parking lots.   Those signs might say something like, "A PRAYING COMMUNITY".  The above Bible verses from Luke chapter eighteen (which emphasizes faith and prayer) tell of a day when faith and prayer, even among God's people, will be few and far between.  I remember one of our elderly members lamenting to me when I was pastoring that, "We're not really a praying church."   I suppose some might have taken issue with her, but the fact was that (as in most evangelical churches) it was very difficult to get people to turn out for prayer meetings.   We talk a lot about prayer, but many of today's Christians and churches do very little praying- and sometimes even when they do pray, there seems to be very little power or faith involved.   I'm really not "shooting" at anyone here.  Honestly, I think I was a better pray-er in my past and I think I prayed with more faith and power years ago than I do now.  I'm like a lot of people who've (wrongly) been worn down by the problems and disappointments of life.  Do you remember the Parable of the Sower and the example of the seeds that "grew among thorns" (see Matthew chapter thirteen)?  I just read that last night for my personal devotional reading.  Jesus said that symbolized people who became so affected by the problems and stresses of living and making money and all the issues of life that their Christian lives were choked out and they became fruitless.  Boy, was that a sobering passage for me to read last night.  I don't want to be like that, and if I'm getting to be like that I want to change, fast!

Again, I'm really not picking on anyone.  That sign caught my attention and got me thinking this morning.  Thought:  Is your church a praying church and are you a praying Christian?