May, 1996

Dear Pastor,

Spring has finally arrived—or at least we hope it has!

Along with the coming of spring comes a season that many people dread: allergy season. For a small percentage of people, the time from May to October is filled with stuffy heads, runny eyes, clogged noses, and filled sinuses. I am glad that I don’t suffer from these problems, though my wife does.

But allergy season is not limited to spring and summer. Have you ever received one of those magazines that, when you open it, bowls you over with the strong scent of some new perfume or cologne? In our home, the first thing I have to do is to tear that page out and dispose of it or my wife’s sensitive nose begins to act up right away.

Some people are so sensitive to perfumes and the like that going to church can be a weekly ordeal. What other people have put on their skin, as its scent wafts over to them, makes it difficult for them to concentrate on worshiping God and listening to the sermon; they have to worry about such simple things as breathing without sneezing and trying to get rid of a growing
headache.

One of the reasons why at least some people have attended the Drive-In Church is because of this problem of allergies. They don’t attend our services every Sunday; just occasionally, when they know that the perfumes in the church will be particularly offensive to them. Sitting in their cars, they can control what smells surround them. Maybe you have people like that in your
church. Maybe they have even begged you to ask your parishioners not to wear colognes and perfumes. You may want to suggest to them that, perhaps every once in a while, they could attend our services. As we have been emphasizing every month in these letters, we are not trying to ”steal” your members—we don’t even have a ”membership list” as such—but we can offer them a occasional respite from the physical problem God has placed upon them.

Pray for us as we seek to minister on your behalf to a wide variety of people with a wide variety of needs.

Sincerely,
Verlyn D. Verbrugge