Awkward Greeting Time

We are, by nature, social creatures.  We want to make connections with others.  We look for it  We make it happen.  We're designed that way. 

So why is it that when we come to church, the social time before and after church is always a little awkward?  I mean, really, is there anywhere else that has that same feel?

Totally not awkward...

It's not like things are awkward when you're at a baseball game with 20,000 of your closest friends.  I don't even like baseball, but I have fun every single time I go to a game.  Even standing in line with strangers waiting to shell out $45 for a beer and a hot dog, we'll strike up a conversation and it'll be fun.

Maybe that's the difference at church.  It's not like everyone on Sunday morning forms a homogenous group.  At (nearly) every church there will be all six American generations present.  Sometimes a few more from one generation than another, but the age range will cover birth to somewhere just shy of 100.

People are also here for many different reasons.  When you go to a wine tasting, you know everyone there has some interest in wine.  Or they just like eating cheese with those little plastic swords.

Best part of wine tasting

Now church, on the other hand doesn't have a single unifying characteristic.  Sure, Jesus.  But I would hesitate to say everyone is in church to connect with Jesus.  I've known several people who went to church to connect with the pretty girls who also went to church.  Some folks go to church so everyone can see they were at church.  A marine once told me that he went to church every Sunday in bootcamp because it was the one place all week that no one yelled at him.  Obviously the chaplain was not Baptist.

Some of us go because that's our job.  Some because it's our spouse's job.  Parents (and grandparents) often 'drag' children to church.  It is always fun when kids reverse it and drag their parents to church. Some people just show up because they have a friend singing or playing an instrument.  When I did my internship in Colorado, I had several co-workers come to church because I was preaching.  It was the only time one of them had ever been inside a church.  Ever.

Different ages.  Different reasons.  Different people.

What we do in church is a little weird as well.  It is about us because we're all there in the same place, participating in the same service.  But it isn't about us because the focus is on (or should be) connecting us with God.  All these diverse and incredibly varied people together, but not actually interacting with one another.  Maybe that's why the greeting is so awkward.

What do these people have in common?

Except for the greeting time, our attention is focused either on ourselves or turned toward being open to a spiritual experience.  We talk together, we sing together, we listen together, but we're doing it by ourselves.  Everyone around us just happens to be doing the same thing at the same time.  Think about it.  I'm right, aren't I?

However, I am confident that on Sunday morning each of us is exactly where we need to be, surrounded by the people who need to be surrounding us.  We might not be sure what is going to happen, but I am also confident that God will dispense love and grace to those gathered -- whoever they are and for whatever reason they have come.

Perhaps that's the unifying characteristic -- everyone at church is a person Jesus loves.