Stop Muddying Your Messages

3 Responses

  1. Lee Beck says:

    Welcome!

    This is a message that your anonymous Wal-mart does reasonably well. And the Summit (due to the efforts of our anonymous welcoming team) continues to prioritize.

    But since you seem to be looking for negative messages, I’ll provide one.

    Barbara and I were at the beach maybe 15 years ago on a Sunday morning. We don’t always attend worship services while away on vacation (shame on us) but on this particular Sunday we did. Maybe it was raining. The anonymous Baptist church that we attended was packed (so maybe it wasn’t raining). We arrived only a few minutes prior to the service, and there didn’t appear to be any available seats. I finally spotted space enough for the two of us at the end of a pew and I grabbed Barbara’s hand and walked the aisle, smiled at the lady that we would sit with, and got a sneer (maybe that was imagined) and a verbal “this seat is taken.” We stood at the back of the sanctuary for maybe 10 minutes. I did see that a gentleman who the lady was saving the seat for did ultimately arrive, and later he was one of the volunteers (probably a deacon in those days) who collected the offering. Maybe he was late because he was in a group praying for the Holy Spirit to move during the service.

    About 15 minutes into the service I saw a few folding chairs in an alcove and got them for Barbara and myself.

    I don’t recall the message that was delivered from the pulpit that morning, but as I’ve demonstrated with detail, I do remember the message of one individual and the absence of hospitality that was likely witnessed by others in the congregation with no attempt at repair.

    So if I’m asked to sit at the end of a pew to collect offering, and if I move to the center when someone tries to enter from the same side, please remind me that it’s more important to be friendly than to step on someone’s toes as I leave from the center.

    Sometimes when we attempt to do things right we miss the main right thing.

  1. January 17, 2014

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