Keys to the Kingdom By Carolyn Tucker
You Get One Chance
As a fun way to spend an afternoon together, I met three of my girlfriends at a movie theatre out of town. Before I left, I made sure I had the correct name of the cinema and directions. When I pulled into the parking lot, the theatre had a different name from the one I’d been given. So I thought perhaps there were two cinemas close together, and I began slowly driving around the area. I decided to return and that’s when I saw the girls getting out of their car. I found out that when the theatre changed its name, a new sign had never been installed. Strike one. When Charlene began to place her order at the snack bar, she sweetly asked, “Do you have Dr. Pepper?” “No.” “Do you have Mr. Pib?” “No.” Do you have Diet Coke?” “No.” “Do you have lemonade?” Finally, the concession worker answered in a toneless voice, “We have Diet Pepsi.” Strike two.
The attendant then told us to “go right and then right” to find our movie room. Come to find out, those directions were exactly backwards. Strike three. When we finally found the right room, we discovered an older couple sitting in two of our four seats. They refused to move over, so we just sat in the row in front of them. Strike four. In the middle of all these confusing, amusing, ridiculous, and annoying fiascos, I leaned over to Charlene and said, “If this were a church, I’d never come back.” We both chuckled.
Feeling confused, awkward, and ignored are three big strikes when a guest visits a church. Charlene’s husband is a pastor and, many years ago, I distinctly remember Dennis saying, “You get one chance to make a good first impression.“ This is a sobering absolute truth, especially for the family of God. Generally speaking, the Church is not in the business of trying to impress people, but it is a Body of Believers who should go out of their way to make guests feel welcomed and valued on their first visit. We get one chance to do this right.
My wild experience at the movie theatre caused me to seriously evaluate my personal response to everybody (not just guests) in the House of the Lord. Not everyone feels as elated as King David did when he wrote, “I was glad when they said to me, ’Let us go into the house of the Lord’” (Psalm 122:1 NKJV). Some people enter the church building carrying burdens, experiencing emotional pain, sorrow, heartbreak, loneliness, etc. But the good news is that they made the right decision to come to church. I want to be better at reading faces and responding to people appropriately.
The apostle Paul wrote a powerful letter to the church of Ephesus. Since a church is made up of individuals, we all have to stand up, “own it” and say “ouch” or “amen.” Paul’s letter didn’t beat around the bush and is intended to ground, shape, and challenge believers. He writes: “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace” (Ephesians 4:2-3 NLT). He continues, “Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them“ (Ephesians 4:23,29 NLT).
The Key: I’ve got my work cut out for me. Does anybody want to get on the bandwagon with me?
