Tags
Christian Values, Christian Women, Christianity, church, compassion, God's grace, God's love, God's truth, grace, hope, identity in Christ, image bearer, kindness, Kingdom Service, parenthood, Serving, sonship, the gospel
After church, we went to lunch as a family. This felt so special today. My health has been up and down and all over the place. I have missed church. I long to be in that place. Entering into worship, hearing the word of God, fellowship and community, communion- I could go on. It is precious to me.
My soul felt full after church today. Rob and I talked about that feeling of being loved and known by our church family as we drove to lunch at Chuy’s.
We were enjoying our lunch when part of a large group was seated on the patio near us. As soon as they were seated, they began demanding- not requesting. Over the course of about half an hour the rest of the party arrived and the demands grew.
- Open the plastic patio screens.
- I want more napkins now.
- We want someone waiting on us now. At first they didn’t want anything until everyone arrived, but the second their minds changed- physic powers of the staff were supposed to know that.
- Get us drinks. Now.
- They began unzipping and undoing the plastic patio screens themselves.
- They didn’t like the salt shakers.
- We need our drinks faster.
- We want chips now.
- I’ll just do it myself if you aren’t going to do this now.
- Last person is here, get her a drink now.
I felt like my head was going to explode. I called our server over. He was helping the server with this table- along with a manager and three busboys. They stopped every person who walked through the area and told them to bring them something. Again, they didn’t ask. They didn’t say please. They demanded.
I asked him to let that server know that no matter what she did, she was not going to satisfy them. They were going to complain and demand, and it wasn’t her fault. I asked him to let the manager know they were being rude and awful to her. I told him I had waited tables, and the manager needed to know how they were treating the staff.
He thanked me and said he was just trying to help her out because they were being so difficult. I told him it was easy to see and that they just needed to do the best they could. The manager stopped by a little while later and I told her how hard the staff were working for such rude customers and she thanked me for letting her know, and she also thanked us because the servers told her how nice our table had been.
Before we left I got the chance to talk to the server at that table. She came over and I told get how sorry I was they were treating her so badly. She was almost in tears. She said they were so rude and she was just overwhelmed. Next I said this, “One of the things that bothers me most is that they are dressed in clothes that look like they just came from church. I want you to know that the lack of grace and kindness and compassion they are showing you is not a reflection of the heart of Jesus for you.”
She looked kind of shocked and said thank you so much.
Here’s the reason why I am writing this post. Your life is your ministry. Who you are when you leave church on Sunday matters. Wearing a cross and “church clothes” out to lunch after you leave church services while you are rude and demanding and impatient and lack basic human decency MAKES A MOCKERY OF THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL!
It matters infinitely how you treat people, and it’s just pageantry to attend a service and go back into the world unchanged. It mocks the very heart of God and makes the gospel repellent to a world that needs to hear it if you are supposed to be an image bearer of the one it testifies to, but you treat people like garbage because you think you are entitled to.
It matters. It has to matter that we are known by how we love and interact with those we meet and those our lives intersect with everyday. When you get the chance, make those moments count, and be a person who says to someone, the heart of God is for you by how you treat and engage them.
