Slice of Apple

Christmas Eve.  I am at a mall.  Somebody shoot me.  Standing outside the Apple store, waiting for them to open, I was here because it needed to be done.  Not by choice.  I would rather all my teeth pulled while watching C-Span.

We were having trouble with the churches computer so I was there to see what the trouble was under the hood. 

30 minutes before the store opened I was outside waiting.  The glass doors were part way open and as the employees entered everyone inside cheered and called out their names.  They were having a meeting before they started their day; I could hear the joking and laughing.  Everyone was in a great mood. Soon after they took their places in the store as the manager walked out to open the glass doors.  Smiling to me he stuck the key in the automatic opener and the gang in the store started rhythmically clapping for my entrance.  The doors slid open and I walked inside to cheers and applause.  It was Christmas eve. and they were about to be slammed but they didn’t seem to mind the impending madness.  I had to walk the length of the store to get to the counter where they would help me and as I walked I was greeted and applauded for.  A smile came to my face.  Here I was with a problem.  This was an inconvenience for me to be here.  For all I knew our computer could be fried and everything lost on the hard drive.  Yet I was smiling.  I felt like they were happy to see me.  These young kids (at 38 all of them now seem so young!) looked happy to be there and sincerely enjoyed what they did.  The environment they created was instantly warming and inviting.  It did not stop with the applause.  Once I reached the front I was quickly helped and personally looked after.  The whole experience was incredibly surprising to me; especially in a time where customer service is at an all time low.

But here is what struck me about this moment.  The greeting I received; the feeling I had upon leaving was, unfortunately, better then most churches give on a Sunday morning.  I left the Apple store with a feeling that I was important to them and I wanted to go back.  I had a problem when I arrived yet through it all I left feeling special.

Some arrive on a Sunday morning, cross the thresholds of our churches not wanting to be there.  They have a chip on their shoulders, a problem they are carrying and they, a lot of times, would rather be home in bed or at Starbucks.

Unfortunately they leave with that same burden and the same feeling of ‘my problem remains’ nothing has changed.

We carry the greatest news the world has ever heard, have been freed from death and will live FOR ETERNITY with Christ; yet have trouble making eye contact with a guest and saying ‘hello’.  I understand the concerns for not wanting to be overbearing but we must understand that all of us desire to be special to someone.  To be needed by someone.  The world is growing increasingly solitary.  Relationships, true, honest relationships are becoming scarcer. 

We can do more.  We can give more.  Sunday is not about cliques and social time with the friends we already have.  That is secondary to Christ and reaching out to others.

We can no longer be surprised when people find refuge in drugs or gangs or sex.  They will find it where they can get it.  I found it at the mall.  The mall. 

 The church should be the most exciting, alive place on the planet