Few
Kind Words On Sunday, But...
Make
The Most Of A Very Important Fifteen Minutes On Sunday!
I love Sundays. Sunday is our day to be together. I think about you and pray for you all through the week. It’s great when we cross paths during the week. I seek many of you out during the week at the hospital or nursing home or when there is something to visit about. But Sundays are special because we all get together.
I want to tell you about the worst part of my Sunday morning. It’s not my least favorite part by any means, but it is my most frustrating part. Please, please, please, please don’t take this the wrong way. Read this all the way through to the end and try to understand what I’m saying.
My worst part of Sunday morning is (gulp, here goes) the shaking of the hands after the service.
Shaking hands with a couple of hundred people that you really care about in just a few short minutes is like sitting down to a great seven course meal for thirty seconds. It’s like touring Yellowstone Park in a train going 140 miles per hour. Shaking hands with all of you and saying, "Hi! God bless you! See ya next week!” and calling you by the name of the person who is in front of you in line because my brain is about one second too slow most of the time is like a 10 minute visit to Disneyland. There’s way too much that could happen in way too short a time.
So from now on, plan on a nice leisurely conversation with the Pastor. We’ll each take time for a donut and a cup of coffee, and make an afternoon of it.
Okay, that won’t work, but I have another idea. First, let me explain again why this is so important to me.
Not A Line!
Nowhere that I have seen is the Church of Jesus Christ described as a line of people standing in a row. I’ve seen the Church described as a family, or as a body of assembled parts, but never as a line. It’s bad geometry and bad theology. We’re not a line, we’re more like a blob. The Church is, according to the Bible, a building, a holy building, like a temple, made of living stones, each piled on each other, all leaning on one another, inter-connected. We’re like a blob, all mixed and mingled together.
I know that sounds messy, but being the Church is kind of messy.
Church architecture doesn’t always help send the right message either. Back when the great cathedrals were built, there were no pews. The people stood together for the service. They milled around as needed, like a blob, I suppose. Sometimes I think the pews, which indeed do throw us into each others’ laps on a crowded Sunday, for the most part separate the body of Christ into neat little rows where we look at the back of the head in front of us. That’s hard on mixing and mingling.
Most church communion rails are designed kind of funny. Have you ever seen a family all sit on the same side of the table for a special meal? Da Vinci not withstanding, communion is a meal shared. That’s one reason why we call it communion. I’ve seen a few church’s with rails that go all the way around the altar so the family can see each other. That’s good! Some church’s are even built round, or with seating angled in so the worshippers can sing to the Lord, but see the faces of one another. Hmmm.
Connections!
I guess this bothers me so much because I’m so anxious for the stones of the building, the members of the body, to get connected, and at one of the most critical times in our week together, the family is standing in a long line waiting to visit for less than two seconds with the same one guy. I’d rather you spent the time connecting with each other.
There’s an advertisement for a bank going around that talks about two people at a diner eating lunch. At one table is a supplier of aluminum or something looking for a manufacturer who needs a lot of material in a big hurry. At the booth across the way is a manufacturer all upset about how hard it is to get a good deal on aluminum. As the commercial ends, they bump into each other as they pay their bills, not knowing that they’ve just walked away from the most important person in the city.
I wonder how often that happens here on a Sunday morning?
A Problem
We have a serious problem. There are far too many people who worship here in our Christian family who are not yet well connected to the body, not yet mortared into the building that God is building with we his living stones. We all need to be part of the solution.
I miss Ray Miller. He was a dear friend of mine and I always enjoyed seeing him on Sundays, but more importantly, he was a dear friend to so many of you, and he made it his mission to connect people. I miss Floyd Klitzing, too. He did the same thing. Ray and Floyd both had dozens and dozens of friends to talk to on a Sunday, but they always talked to the strangers first. I’d bet that almost all of the people new to our church over the past ten years would tell you that it was Ray or Floyd that they first remember taking time to visit with them on a Sunday.
There are dozens of things we can do about it, but I’m going to suggest just a few. Our highly trained and highly dedicated staff of Hosts on Sunday do a great job, but this is a job for the whole family. Here are a couple of things we could do.
Let’s turn the line into a blob. When we get in a line to leave worship, a number of bad things happen. Some people get rushed out the door before they’re ready. It would be better if we made it okay to just mill around for a little while. There’s some great conversation in the line, but if you don’t end up in line with someone you need to talk to, that’s not good.
I think we’ll try moving the Pastor to the front of the church after the service. That way I can be available for those two or three minute visits that I need to make with some of you, and it will give the rest a chance to find someone to visit with for a few minutes.
Not everyone can be a Floyd or a Ray who builds a relationship with a couple of dozen people at once. But everyone can take a few minutes to walk over and find that someone or that family that maybe you’ve seen a half dozen times but never met and strike up a conversation. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been members here for a century or so. Go get connected.
Then look them up the following week. And if you don’t see them, give them a call during the week and tell them that you missed them.
If it’s someone who is brand new with us, say, “I’d like you to meet our Pastor.” I’ll be standing around up in front waiting calmly for just such an opportunity.
Does it sound crazy? Maybe. Maybe not. Remember, the most important person on a Sunday morning is the person who is thinking that this might be their last time here. Lets try it for a week or so, and let me know what you think.
See you Wednesday at 7:00 PM, (supper from 5:30-6:30). Bring a friend!