At some point a random stranger is going to walk into our church. Will we be able to get past our own “stuff” to meet them as they are, and let them know we’re glad they’re there?
Or we’ll bump into someone at the end of their rope, or on top of the world, and we’ll have a decision to make about whether and how to share a little bit of our day with them. Will we?
Those are the questions behind my posts over the last two weeks—my invitation for you to practice noticing how you react to random people that you meet, and last week’s reflection on my own experiences and what you told me about yours. If you look back, you’ll see the truth of all this: It’s hard to get ourselves out of our own way and just BE with people.
Sometimes they’ll remind us of someone we don’t like. Sometimes they’ll take us back to a time we were embarrassed or shamed or felt like a failure. Sometimes we’ll hate something about them or the way they act.
But Jesus doesn’t tell us to love people except when those things are true.
Nor does he say that we don’t have to take this love thing seriously until they come into our church.
He says (in essence), “See that person? Love them!”
Even if they repel us. Even if they’re talking to us naked in a locker room. Even if they’re frivolous, or homeless, or our interaction is laden with cultural baggage.
“Just love them,” Jesus says, smiling.
It’s that simple. And that grueling.
So, yeah, go back and do the practice, and do the reflecting I already invited you to do. That’s a huge step toward being able to meet one another as the real, amazing, precious people that God created us to be.
And it’s the work at the heart of practicing Foolish Church.
Image from Scientific American, “10 Things You Don’t Know about Yourself” May 15, 2018), which has some good observations relevant to these “random stranger” questions.
I am amazed at how your challenge made me really think about my responses. And hopefully I’m changing my response to some people.