singing 'grace' before the sunday meal

teri said...
i really want people's eyes to open spiritually. Plain and simple...Check it out...

so i did... and this is what i read:
This is the one day of the week that I don't like working. Those people that have gone to church and now they want to be waited on. They're arrogant and give off this, "How dare you work on Sunday", and the, "They are not giving me much money for a tip because they gave to the church"... If they truly believe that I shouldn't be working on Sunday, they should not bring their sorry asses out to eat on this day...

this post made me sad in the same way that the situations described make God sad, i think.

(good point about our sorry asses forcing businesses to be open. if it wasn't worth it, no one would bother to open up on sunday would they? )

here's what i began to say in response to this one post that stands for the thoughts of thousands yet unposted...
***

i remember, as a churched kid, being embarrassed when all the christians would just invade a restaurant and start 'singing grace' and all that. i hear you with the bad tip bit too!

however, i need to tell you that all believers aren't like that. that wasn't what Jesus was about- still isn't. he abhorred behaviour like that when displayed by the religious leaders of his day. Jesus' strongest words were towards graceless followers of God.

grace- now there's a heavy word. it means, in today's vernacular, giving someone a break even when they haven't done anything special to somehow 'deserve' it. really, in the presence of a perfect and holy God, none of us deserves anything but a busload of hell for our own spiritual rebellions, great and small, anyway.

yet for some reason God chooses to use regular people to do his work because he is about relationships, not control. the level to which we extend grace to others is a direct indicator as to the relationship that exists between ourselves and the author of all good things including grace itself.

sadly, that is probably not particularly good news for the person who serves a bunch of graceless 'would-be-if-not-for-the-state-of-their-heart-and-their-actual-behaviour christians.'
but let me thank you on their behalf.

let me bless you for serving them and for not spitting in their food or otherwise strengthening the dividing walls that seperate them from the world that Jesus has charged them to reach for his glory with his love.

let me bless you for extending undeserved kindness and giving people a break even though they have something else coming.

and let me bless you for your grace. it certainly won't make the world colder... and maybe somewhere in there a heart will recognize the kindness that God authored being extended to them through your humble service.

further reading?http://northvus.blogspot.com/2005/06/confessional-dodgeball.html