Barnes in Common

the magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
July/August 2007

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Nothing is wasted

By Rosie Findlater

"What's this?" said the Reverend Gary Batey to a group of children taking part in the Sunday service of Roser Memorial Community Church on Anna Maria Island in Florida.

"Trash" he went on, holding up a squashed plastic bottle that once contained water and now looked pretty useless.

"However" he said, "this piece of trash contains hope because the bottle can be re-cycled and turned into something else. The same can happen to people who seem crushed - God can help them change. There's hope for all who feel trashed."

This very simple message had an impact on the whole congregation, adults and children alike.

The service continued. There was a sermon directed more to adults, then intercessions (people had been encouraged at the beginning of the service to hand in any special intercessions in a box, which were later read out). It felt refreshing and very uplifting.

Theirs is a simple faith and a very strong one in which all denominations welcome. Gary A. Batey is a Methodist but Baptists, Lutherans, Calvinists, Catholics, all sorts, all can attend.

When we came out of the Church there was a table piled high with delicious home baked cookies and cakes, as well as coffee, tea or squash for all. This was very much part of the service and the ladies who had baked the cookies were looked on with great favour!

Church is very important to American families - Anna Maria Island has no crime and nothing needs to be locked (could it be the result of Christian values being instilled at a young age?).

As you can see from the photo, the American flag is of great importance to them and they are, of course, a very patriotic and God-fearing race. They have no doubt that God is absolutely on their side. Churches are full on Sundays and there are many events going on to support the less fortunate.

It dawned on us that Anna Maria Island was in another age, where the pace of life was much slower. We began to feel relaxed very quickly. The beaches were fine white coral sand, and at the water's edge were sanderlings, the ubiquitous sandpipers, and the more ungainly black-headed gulls, not to mention the pelicans, rather appealing in their ugliness, and the cormorants.

Occasionally, an egret or three would land close to us on the beach, so graceful and elegant. The houses are mostly made of clapboard and any new house built has to be on stilts as no one can live on the ground floor because of hurricanes.

There is a system in place for these immense storms, though the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida seems a little less prone to them. The climate is sub-tropical so the flowers and fruits were sublime. Another world.

It became apparent to us over our week there that 9/11 had knocked them all to their foundations and they simply cannot understand why they were so hated that the Twin Towers happened to them.

The paradox is that rather like the battlefields of the Somme - such a disaster has brought them closer into the presence of God and it has strengthened their faith.

Unlike many of we British who went to Church for comfort when Princess Diana died, Church going all fell away again and Church attendees may be less, if anything. The Americans are doing something right. What can we learn from them?

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