February 17, 2010
Now Serving the Word
As we’ve remodeled a restaurant/bar into our church, I’ve made it a point to encourage curious folks to come for a worship-visit or to just drop by and check out the facility. In the Children’s Activity area we have tables and chairs where families can sit together and kids can color or read books during the service. Shortly after we opened the building up for worship a young family came in that we didn’t know. Bill welcomed them, gave them a bulletin and showed them our seating arrangement. The dad was a little red-faced and appeared to be upset. Bill wondered if maybe they had a spat while coming to church, or he could even be irritated at having been drug to church. Before we even finished the first hymn the family shot out of their seats and left the building. Was it something we said, the song we were singing, could someone have offended them? Not knowing what caused them to exit so abruptly always worried Bill, that is until one of the other elders said, “Oh, I just think they just probably thought they were coming to a restaurant for breakfast.”
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Gail;
-----The unknown has always fascinated me. Although I certainly enjoy folding back its blankets to discover what is there, I have learned there is far more of it than there is of what is known. Occasionally what lies under those blankets may have an effect on what I am or should be (Jesus is definitely that kind of unknown to the non-believer) and calls out for a focused search, as Jesus did to me. But fortunately, more often its effects are minor. The benefits of solving some mysteries are far less than the cost of the time and effort required to unravel them. So a person is left covering his bases for only the more likely possibilities.
-----Only that family could know if the elder’s guess was right or not. Yet Bill’s concern about the possibility something might have offended them was worthy of address. Being concerned about the interests of others to build them up rather than offending them is part of the nature of the new life. I don’t agree with the “you can’t please everyone” thinking until a situation has been analyzed from every angle and no improving adjustment has been found. If these folks came to your church to worship and found something offensive about it, the fact that the dad was discomforted even before reaching his seat would indicate a probability it had to do with the facility’s layout more than anything else. Even in that case, there is nothing you could adjust because your main source of information for solving the mystery got up and left.
-----In the more likely case that they were looking for a restaurant, if you might wish to just cover this base, don’t hand out bulletins. Hand out menus. Prominently on the front page it could read, “Nutritional facts: 99.9% spiritual nutrients, .1% vitamins and minerals in the communion elements.”
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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