Picture: This is what it should look like...Is there such a thing as politely rude or rudely politely?
What if a stranger where to tell you..."THANK YOU FOR PUTTING THAT AWAY.''
You smile at the stranger not really knowing what in the world they are talking about. Then you begin to wonder why the smile on your face is NOT being reflected on the face of this stranger. Aren't smiles supposed to be contagious? The stranger...let's give the stranger the name Mr. Glare A. Lote....is just staring at you with no smile, no visible affection, and no welcoming words.
It was the first time I met Mr. Glare, and those were the first words I ever heard him say. The words that followed were colder than ice. He was talking about my cellphone; I discovered after he repeated himself, and I sarcastically give him credit for taking the time to explain what he was referring to when my smile turned into a gap of confusion.
I had been standing about ten feet from the door of the sanctuary of a church when this took place. I had been calling a friend who I was supposed to meet with at the church, and Mr. Glare did not like it. When I understood what was being told me, I wanted to cry for many reasons. Yeah, I felt shame, and it hurt me that someone treated me that way. Maybe I was in the wrong to have my cellphone out in the pre-lobby of the church, especially if it was bringing offense to a brother.
But what really hurts me now is that if that had been my first visit to a church, I would never have wanted to come back.
Am I too radical? Is this too liberal? I once did not understand this, how people would let other people "kick" them out of church with their glares, remarks, or inaction. But I felt it tonight.
But how many people have actually visited a church for the first time and been turned away by Mr. Glare A. Lote with their "welcoming dismissal." This is what breaks my heart.
What happened to the Mr. and Mrs. Care A. Lot? The ones who take you in with hugs and get to know you first? When they correct you, they do it with tactful care.
Am I a Ms. Glare A. Lote? I may not say a word, but what I do or don't, may send a child of creation one step farther from being a child of re-creation.
Let's consider the words we speak, the silence we keep, the actions we do and don't, and who we represent in careful consideration.
"Whatesoever things are pure, whatsoever things are just...think of these" and act on them because "He [God] first loved us."
