EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2021 I began a new venture writing a newspaper column titled "Finding Faith" for the Forum Communications Co. network of newspapers and websites. I was asked to contribute to the company's ongoing conversation about faith, lending a Lutheran and fairly ecumenical approach to the discussion. The column was published in several of the company's papers and websites, including The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. This column originally appeared as a "Finding Faith" column on May 3, 2024.
By The Rev. Devlyn Brooks
Mike from South Dakota probably doesn’t go to church as much as he thinks he should.
But, you know, some of those “religious folks kinda go too far,” he said. “What about just being a good person? What about just loving your neighbor? That’s gotta count for something.”
Mike shared these sentiments with me in a brief conversation in a parking lot outside a bookstore here in town. I was coming out of the bookstore; Mike from an adjacent business.
Turns out he liked the color of my pickup truck so much he had to know more about it, an affinity that made more sense when he shared pickups are vital to his work on the farm.
I sheepishly shared with him my pickup doesn’t get the workout his trucks do as there ain’t a great number of payloads a pastor has to haul, unless we count the spiritual and emotional ones. However, possessing reverence for the work I do, Mike gave me honorary admission into the pickup driving club. “My wife, who’s a real churchgoer, never would let me live it down if I didn’t,” he chortled!
Some would say that Mike’s and my passing was merely serendipity, nothing more. Two folks crossing paths when a conversation about the color of a Ford F-150 takes place. “Say, what do you call that color anyway?” Mike asked. “I’m not sure,” I said. “But my wife calls it ‘Old Man Brown,’ as I guess guys my age are magnetically drawn to this color.”
Evidently my opening line must have landed, because one minute Mike and I were talking about pickups -- one of us knowledgeably -- and the next we were talking about what makes a “good religious person.” … But I admitted to not being anymore knowledgeable about that subject either.
“I just love ‘em up and let God sort it out on the other side,” I said.
“I like that approach,” Mike said. “I’ve met some pretty mean, indecent people who call themselves Christian, and other folks … the nicest people in the world, and no cares for religion at all. Go figure.”
“Mike, that’s a pretty astute observation,” I said, “and why I try to stick to the loving ‘em all theme.”
“Reverend, my wife -- you know, the churchgoing one -- would really like that,” he said. “She’s a better judge of character than I’ll ever be anyway.”
Well, Mike said, he’d better be on his way before his friend he was visiting wondered what happened to him. But he gets back here periodically, and he’s going to look for my “Old Man Brown” pickup. “I like talkin’ church with you, Padre,” he said.
“I like talking faith with you too, Mike,” I said, getting into my pickup. “Let’s do this again.”
And sometimes that’s the best pastoral work I do all week, friends. Just talkin’ trucks and church in a bookstore parking lot.
What an amazing world. Amen.
Devlyn Brooks is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and serves Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com.