Suspicions aside for a moment, I have decided that people who show up in the middle of the service are, in general, never good news. They always have some sort of personal agenda they are trying to accomplish. They are clearly not interested in worshipping God, or they would have bothered to arrive on time.
In this case, the man was also clearly not interested in joining with the body of Christ in a common meal, as he opted to refrain from participating in communion (and the way I invite people to the table, it's clear that this is Christ's table and all are welcome - I mean, I've had Catholic grandmothers visiting their kids who've told me in no uncertain terms before the service that they wouldn't be taking communion with us, who've nevertheless come forward after that invitation).
But nope, this guy was just there to hijack our Sunday School class after worship, to beat people over the head with the Bible (which he interpreted with a very selective literalism) and explain to us all very clearly how we're condemning ourselves to hell.
Sigh.
When I realized what he was up to, I joined the class. A couple of them were arguing with him, but the rest were pretty much silent. I entered into the fray, and quickly realized this guy was not interested in an actual discussion, with a respectful give and take, where one genuinely listens to another's opinion as much as one shares one's own point of view. All he wanted to do was triumph in a proof-texting war (where the text in question could only legitimately be interpreted according to his point of view).
Before I had realized what he was up to, when he came through the line to greet me after church, he had asked if he could come talk to me sometime. I told him I would be away at a conference but he could call the church the following week. I thought maybe after our little showdown that Sunday he would change his mind, but he actually called this week to set up an appointment. I firmly but politely told him he had made both his agenda and his tactics pretty clear the week before, and I had made my feelings regarding them equally clear, so I didn't see any point to meeting with him further - it would honestly be a waste of both of our time. He was as relentless as a telemarketer in trying to get me to change my mind, so I finally had to hang up on him.
Once again, I am amazed at how narrow and constricted and vengeful some peoples' view of God is. One of the main speakers at the Global Mission Event, Dr. Anton Tikhomerov, spoke exactly to the dangers and abuses of such fundamentalism - he actually sees it as a greater threat to the faith than atheism. He had a great line about fundamentalism changing the Bible, that instead of being a love letter to us from God, it becomes a stringently executed pre-nuptial contract. Great image, and sadly, too, too true for far too many people. . .but each of us can only fight it where we're at.
So here's to keeping Jesus out of the box here in central PA,
Catrina
Addendum from 7/28:
I'm getting caught up on some blog reading, and noticed Milton has also recently been thinking about this subject:
When it comes time for the sorting, if God says to me I missed the point because I let too many people in, I will smile and take the hit. What would break my heart would be if God said, “I had room for everyone. Why did you keep closing the door?”
Read the fuller context of these eloquent thoughts and more over at don't eat alone.
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