Hospitality, Fear, and the Times in
Which We Live…
A few weeks ago, December 20th,
to be exact…I had the privilege of preaching in our Sunday Morning Worship
Service. Something very awkward happened right before our service that was
somewhat troublesome, raising my blood pressure and a fear in me that I have
not experienced before…
A young man entered our Worship
Center and told the volunteers working the Welcome Center that he “needed to
speak to the pastor.” As you are aware,
we are currently searching for a Senior Pastor. Mickey, our Assistant Pastor,
was in New York visiting his children and grandchildren. So, not sure what to
do our Welcome Center Volunteers began looking for me.
I went over to the Welcome Center to
meet the young man they were speaking about. He wore a baggy coat and had it
buttoned all the way up. The bottom of his coat stuck out a bit, as if he had
something tucked into the front of his pants. Upon greeting him, he said, “I
need to speak to you man-to-man!” I had never seen this young man before. The
more he talked, the more nervous and fearful I became.
I was sure that I did not want to
take him into my office to visit, so we walked over by the church library,
where we could speak, yet be in the line of vision of our Welcome Center
volunteers. I asked the young man how I could assist him or if there were
anything that I could pray with him about. He simply replied, “I’m here” and
said nothing more… (At the time, I was trying to figure out what he had under
his coat…was it one of those fanny pack things?…or was it possibly…a weapon?) I
thanked him for coming to Northside and asked him if he was hungry. We had a
great church-wide breakfast that morning. He said he had not eaten, so I walked
him over to the fellowship hall. Our deacons welcomed him and provided him with
a nice plate of food. He proceeded to enter the fellowship hall and eat. Our
safety team was notified and some deacons volunteered to visit with the young
man.
By this time it was 10:35am with our
morning Worship Service about to start, so I returned to the Worship Center to
prepare for the service. A fear that something bad could happen this morning
was slowly creeping over me. To be honest, I don’t remember much about the
service, except the thoughts I was having…What will I do if this young man
walks down the aisle with a weapon? Will I try to tackle him and take his
weapon? The mind is an amazing thing…and, because of fear, mine was running
wild the morning of December 20th. Recently, I was reading Romans,
and I was reminded that you and I, as followers of Jesus, are to be a
reflection of the Kingdom of God, instead of a reflection of the world…
Romans 12:17-21 New
Living Translation (NLT)
17 Never pay back evil with
more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with
everyone. 19 Dear friends, never take
revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take
revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. 20 Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed
them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you
will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” 21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by
doing good.
I was told, that immediately
following the service, the young man exited the church on foot without speaking
to anyone. I have not seen him since. Did I handle this right? Why was I so consumed
by fear? I still wonder today.
We live in uncertain times…we should
all look to the Scripture, and decide how we will respond to events such as
this in the future. And, most importantly, decide how Jesus would want us to
respond.
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