One congregation and the love they have for guests.
Recently a guest wrote this note to Pastor Bill, Christus Victor Lutheran Church, Knoxville, TN. She and her husband are traveling across country and blogging her journey and sharing it with many people as she traverses across this great nation.
“Went to Christus Victor Lutheran Church in the outskirts of Knoxville this morning. It’s a large church, soaring ceilings, padded pews (you’ll notice that I always mention padding), beautiful stained glass windows behind the altar, and an organ playing about two keys too high for me to feel comfortable singing. Who decided that all Lutherans are mezzo-sopranos?
Pastor Bill (AKA Rev. William Ondracka) is cool. He came over to talk to us before the service began — as did most of the congregation. And this impressed me — he remembered my name during communion when he gave me the wafer. I told him later that I was impressed, but he modestly said it helped that I had put my name on our prayer request for Terry (my gone-away-forever friend Sherri’s husband). Anyway, this is a good church to visit. I never feel like a stranger because I’m a Lutheran, but this congregation almost made us feel like family.
The church is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and I think it’ll be around for a long time. “
