Mary Ann

Last night Mary Ann Moman was in town and stopped by to visit. We ended up going out to eat with her and Mike Green at Maggiano's. Mary Ann and I have known each other since 1986. I was appointed to serve at Broadway Church in Indianapolis. And she was already there (I was appointed in June -- I think she was appointed in March). She and I were an odd pair from the beginning. She is very kind and gracious. I'm very loud and obnoxious. She always has a cup of coffee in her hand...I always (in the past) had a Pepsi bottle in mine. She was very proper. I...was...not. Am not. Whatever.

I used to love to jump into Mary Ann's office with a book in my hand, plop down in the chair across from her desk and ask if I could read her something. She's the first person I remember ever doing this around regularly. At least she's the first person I ever remember really ALLOWING me to do that regularly.

She and Phil and I really enjoyed working with each other there. We laughed a lot. We cried sometimes (okay, that was mostly me). We tried new things. I learned a huge amount...from getting to work with those two good people.

They would always be talking about what they saw in the hearts and lives and faith of the people of Broadway. I was spending most of my times in the home of the youth of the congregation and in the streets around the church. I didn't go to many meetings. But they would always have stories and insights into the lives and faith of the people of that place. And they were always seeing and suggesting where that might be taking us.

They helped me so much to see the joy and the gift of this place. Not by arguing with me or trying to convince me -- but simply because they lived as if it were true. They lived as if the gospel were true. And I don't know or imagine what could have been a better experience for my spiritual growth.

They showed me by how they lived and what we talked about all the time that people who are poor really have a lot to give. They expected everyone to contribute. They saw the hospitality and warmth in the people of Broadway that the people there didn't even seem to realize -- and they celebrated that spirit in them. I see the fruits of that sense of hospitality around this place in a 1000 different ways every day.

And because of that I'm grateful in a thousand different ways every day for them.