Bless The Rains

I receive spam emails. That is something that happens in this world. Perhaps you have received a spam email in the past. If not, then I don’t know how you’re reading this because you obviously have never been near a computer. I get spam emails that run up against the spam filter, but those I never see. But I also get what I think of as pseudo-spam. These are emails that are likely sent by real human beings, but clearly come from someone with a quantity-not-quality approach to sales. They’re essentially cold-calls in the hopes that someone (anyone) might respond. Like spam, but more real, which I guess would just be called ham.

Usually the ham that I receive is forgettable; offers of green energy installation, national cleaning services, I got one today that was offering to write grants on my behalf (what a noble offer). But last Friday I received some ham that felt particularly ill-targeted. The subject line is “trip itinerary” and the email went thusly:

I have been trying to find a church in Rochester where group trips land well.

No idea if this fits your church but I drafted a sample 7 day Kilimanjaro itinerary for groups. It covers the route, what is included, and a ballpark cost per person.

Can I send it over?

Note: If this is not for you, just let me know and I will not reach out again.

This was clearly sent by a person who was grasping at straws.

Now don’t get me wrong, a seven day trip up and down Kilimanjaro would be interesting. Not the least because I’d have a deeper appreciation for the song Africa by Toto when they say “I know that I must do what's right/As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTQbiNvZqaY

But I don’t think that this is the sort of trip that would be a good fit for our congregation.

As a congregation, we don’t have the sort of critical mass to justify organizing a trip to Mount Kilimanjaro. I would assume that number would be at least seven, as opposed to my current estimate of 0-2 people. And that’s totally ok. We just aren’t the sort of congregation that climbs the tallest free-standing mountain in the world.

But in light of this email, I see three choices: 1) we plan a trip to Kilimanjaro and never even bother to get off the plane, 2) lament the fact that we don’t even have enough people to summit the sixth tallest mountain as measured from the earth’s core, or 3) recognize that we won’t be climbing a mountain and instead finding other things that we can not only can do, but matter to us.

One of the things that I appreciate about this church is that we tend to avoid those first two options in favor of the third one. We are not the largest congregation, and we aren’t (on average) the youngest congregation. But I am so grateful that we don’t let that prevent us from seeing the good that we can do. I love the ways we gather, the ways we share in fellowship, the ways we serve our community. I’d much rather do that than sit around sighing about how we are no longer able to brave the 20 thousand feet to the summit of a mountain. Not all of us can be Anne Lorimor, who is the oldest person to climb Kilimanjaro at 89 years and 37 days. And that’s just fine with me.

Peace,

Rev. Jeff Fox-Kline