A tough thing for a Christian to do...

Though I am free and belong to no man,
I make myself a slave to everyone,to win as many as possible.
To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.
To those under the law I became like one under the law
(though I myself am not under the law),
so as to win those under the law.
To those not having the law
I became like one not having the law
(though I am not free from God's law
but am under Christ's law),
so as to win those not having the law.
To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.
I have become all things to all men
so that by all possible means I might save some.

I Corinthians 9:19-22 (NIV)

We're all creatures of habit and sequence. It takes a truly brilliant (and twisted) mind to appreciate chaos and disorder, mostly because in their mind, they're able to make sense of the chaos and calamity. And when it comes to most religions and faiths...heck, one of the essential elements of services in most houses of worship is a sence of proceedure, of ritual, of sequence.

Which brings me to my comment today. I don't know if special classes need to be taught, or a guest speaker to do a seminar, but this needs to be taught to all Christians of every denomination. "Thinking Like a Non-Christian". Or, "Non-Believers for Dummies." I see this problem everytime I see a "Visitor's Parking" sign in a parking lot, or when I run into objections (loud, long, annoyingly persistant objections) when we put the music in the worship bulletins. "Oh, everybody knows where to park...everybody knows how that song goes..."

Folks, I've visited other churches before, in other denominations. And even in other Lutheran chruches, ones that are more traditional (or more progressive) in their worship styles, it often takes me quite a bit of time to figure out what the heck they're doing! Whether it's trying to make sence of the hymnal (and missal, and order of service, and...) why must people make it sooooooooo difficult and complicated to come in, sit down, and worship God?

When I visit other churches for the first time, I NEVER park in the visitor spots, pick up a special name tag or gift, or stand up for a special greeting. I want to be INVISIBLE! I want to see how the MEMBERS and REGULAR ATTENDERS act here, not get a special production and guided tour. I don't want to see what YOU want me to see, I want to see what I want to see.

In restaurant management, retail management, basically any sort of business where you are dealing with customers, clients, or anyone else that's giving you money, it's always important (and always taught) to see things from "the customer's viewpoint." I guess to paraphrase the I Corinthians verse above (an important one for me when it comes to outreach), we must become like the customer in order to win the customer. The Message paraphrase has it a slightly different way...

Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone,
I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all
in order to reach a wide range of people:
religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists,
loose-living immoralists,the defeated, the demoralized—whoever.
I didn't take on their way of life.
I kept my bearings in Christ—
but I entered their world and tried to experience things
from their point of view.
I've become just about every sort of servant there is
in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life.
I did all this because of the Message.
I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

I Corinthians 9:13-23 (MSG)

No, I'm not perfect at it. But at least I try, and try to keep improving. And I think I'm going down the right road on this. So, I guess I'm doing what I can. I'll let God take it from here.