What are you doing here? I Kings 19.9
What did you go out to see? Matthew 11.8
So the other day this woman calls the office and an icy finger drug it’s nail down my spine. She had that voice, that I’m-a-prosperous-mature-white-woman-used-to-getting-my-way voice, that Bea Aurthur (as “Maude”, not as a “Golden Girl”) voice - the voice of Julia Hawes. Mrs. Hawes was my sixth grade teacher, and she ruled with a strong arm and a thick paddle. When she paddled a kid she had the kind of serenity on her face that made you think she learned interrogation from the East Germans. Her rule was as capricious as it was quiet and severe.
So this lady called the office the other day with that voice and wanted to know if we had any pews. “Well yes,” I said “we are a church, we do have pews.” “Some of these new churches have folding chairs,” she said disapprovingly; then she added “I want to buy one.” When I told her we didn’t have any for sale, she wanted to know where she could buy one. I found a church furniture catalogue and gave her the phone number and website. When she realized that I was telling her about new pews she got angry.
“Listen, I don’t want a new pew! I want a nice old one that I can cut in half and fit into the corner of my breakfast nook. I’m taking the table out of my breakfast nook because I’m tired of it piling up. Where can I get an old pew?” I suggested she call some of the many local antique shops, and she said she refused to pay their prices. She wanted to know what we did with our old pews when we moved into our new building, and when I told her they transferred to the church that bought our old building she said, “Well call them and see if they’ll sell me an old pew, then call me right back, I have to go out in about 20 minutes.” “No Ma’am,I think you should call them,” I replied. “Well, give me their number,” she said, getting a little angrier. I told her their name, making sure she had spelled it correctly. I gave her their address, double checking that. Then I said “Ma’am, their number is in the phone book,” and Mrs. Hawes hung up on me.
I’ve gotten phone calls like that – calls that seem irrelevant to what we do – at every church I’ve served. I’ve gotten calls from young men, newly arrived in town and wanting to meet Christian girls. I’ve been called to exorcise noisy ghosts in an attic. I’ve been called to pray over a dog before it was put down. In each instance I’ve tried to use the opportunity to invite a new person to church, tried to establish a rapport that would lead to a conversation about the Gospel. In each case I’ve gotten the same reply: “Hey buddy, just because I want you to pray for my dog/hook me up with a hot date/expunge the demons from my attic, that doesn’t mean I want to hear about Jesus.”
In the same genus as this species of caller are those who want the benefit of our building (for weddings, or homeowner’s association meetings), our pre-school, our VBS, our Youth Group, etc… but would never consider having a discussion with us about spiritual things.
We know this. We have always known it. Being good neighbors in our community is just part of “keeping (our) behavior excellent among the gentiles” (I Peter 2.12). Recognizing these ulterior, ultimately selfish motives is so easy that doing so is cliché.
My concern is us. Why are we here? There are a lot of benefits to having a loving Christian family. A close, loving congregation is the safest place to be, the best place to raise a family, to grow old. All that is as it should be. But the primary reason to be here is not because it is the best social safety net around. The reason we are here is that God says for us to be. God is. God has will. God communicates that will in his word. We have that word. We are not God, we are his creatures. As his creatures we owe God our obedience. God has shown us mercy, given us grace, and told us how to receive it. That is why we should be here – to receive God’s grace and be pleasing to him.
Is it? Is it why we are here?