Gwen died the other night

There was an item in the Sydney Morning Herald. An elderly woman had been killed when struck by a car at the corner of Illawarra and Warren Roads, a few blocks from where I live. She was, according to the story, crossing with a green light. The car which struck her trapped her underneath, and she was carried some 25 metres before the car stopped. She was dead when the body was retrieved, and unrecognisably disfigured.

I wondered who it might be. The woman's age was given as 70 - 80, and her clothing was described. I thought of some of the women in boarding houses around that area who dress similarly.

Then John, one of our deacons, told us, "It was Gwen who died the other night."

Gwen had been to our church once, on the last Sunday in July, when we had our Church Anniversary and fellowship lunch. I don't think she attended the service -- if she did, she wasn't there for much of it -- but that's OK. John had invited her. She lived near him, and he thought she would like the company and friendship.

I was busy after the service, packing things away, chatting to various people. Gwen slipped under my radar. But I found her later, passing along the corridor between the church and the hall, and I introduced myself. I sat with a different group of newcomers at another table, so I didn't talk further to Gwen, but other people did.

A few hours more than a week later, she was dead.

When that kind of thing happens, you ask yourself all kind of "what if?" questions. Would things have been different if I had done something different? I have to answer, "Things probably would not have been different."

But there are implications.

First, I think we did some things right. Someone found Gwen and invited her to a gathering. There are so many lonely people, so many who are at a loose end much of their time. It is always good when they are drawn in and welcomed in some way.

We included her without requiring any "payment". We work on a "donate if you can" system for our normal church meals, but it is never made a big feature. On this occasion, the meal was special, so there was no obligation to contribute.

But there were other aspects of not requiring payment. Gwen was a little lacking in social skills -- she probably hadn't had much reason to practice them for a long time. But she was still welcomed. She didn't have to "clean up" first.

But did we do anything wrong?

Perhaps so. I am unaware that anyone had actually shared the gospel message with her. Ours is not a church to buttonhole people and not let them get away without being evangelised first. But, as we had welcomed her gently, perhaps we should have found some gentle way of letting her know that God loves her, that Jesus died for her, that simple trust is all she needed to become a child of God.

Knowing John, if he ever reads this, I would not be at all surprised if he said, "Of course, I shared the gospel with her. I gave her a tract to read, and I talked to her." That's John. All I mean is that, if something like this happened, no one told me.

Above it all is an issue of the kingdom of God. We want people to belong, to have a family, a community, a "nation", a role in life, oriented around being God's kind of people. Obviously, they can't find that without being told of it. But, whenever we make life better for someone, whenever we ask them in rather than cast them out, whenever we include, we have revealed a glimpse of God's kingdom. We did something good for Gwen: when the next Gwen comes along, I hope we will do more.