334 SE Tecumseh Road  P.O. Box 5  Tecumseh, Kansas 66542  (785) 379-5005  Fax - (785) 379-5061

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Being a doorkeeper Psalm 84 Have you ever met a person who seems to truly exude the love of God in every fiber of his or her being? Every church where either Dottie or I have served over the course of now many years has at least one such person. Charles Mooney was such a person. He and his wife Emily were in their seventies when Dottie, then a fulltime student, served as Pastor of Belmont UMC outside of Atlanta, Georgia. The encroaching city had surrounded that little church, which once had been out in the country. It was a typical, white, wood-frame church, no air conditioning, an old gas stove in the sanctuary. God lived inside. Membership was down to thirty, in reality only half of those still active in any way. High Sunday attendance would be about 12-14, several times there were just six of us, including Dottie, me and the pianist! We both loved that little church, for which Charles did it all. He was somewhat like a one man Trustees/PPR/Education Committee. It was Charles who got there early, opened the windows or lit the old stove before worship. It was Charles who took care of most all repairs and maintenance, cut the grass, and also maintained the little (old) parsonage. Not only that, he and Emily were financial mainstays of the church. Charles was my Sunday School teacher as well, and he and Emily missed only when there was an important family event which took them out of town. It was the best Sunday school class in which I ever participated. Never do I recall hearing Charles complain, although he recognized that the church could not survive, and that he could not keep up his commitment indefinitely. But he also knew it was his church, and God lived there, and as long as needed Charles would give of himself to keep those doors open.  Charles and Emily sold their Atlanta home and moved into the beautiful North Georgia mountains, where Dottie and I had occasion to visit them a couple of times. Still the same wonderful couple. Still the same Charles, who always said that marrying his Emily was the best day’s work he ever did in his whole life. There is no question in my mind that Charles truly understood Psalm 84 when it sings: For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness. (v. 10) Charles lived in the courts of the Lord while he was on this earth. While here, his life touched a great many people, and his example served as inspiration to many – including this writer.  I like to think that Charles served as the Belmont UMC doorkeeper during all those years of loving ministry and service. Now, Charles is a doorkeeper in the heavenly courts. Assuming that I ever get to those courts (that’s a big assumption, I know!), I hope Charles is there to greet me and to open the door for me.  - Pastor Piet - August 27, 2006