Have you been in an awkward church service like this? The musical worship portion has ended, the announcements have been given and the pastor has just come up to begin the sermon. A few minutes in, suddenly you hear loud laughter from behind you. So you look around to see what’s going on. You see someone with a big smile on their face and the person next to them is tapping their shoulder and whispering into their ear, seemingly telling them to be quiet. Then you think to yourself, that must be someone with special needs.
Throughout the rest of the service, occasionally you hear this loud laughter throughout the sanctuary. Sometimes it bothers you because it’s so loud that you can’t really hear what the pastor is saying. Each time it happens, you notice everyone shifting around uncomfortably.
This is so awkward. Should someone take this person out into the lobby? Or would that movement be more disruptive than the laughter? Can anyone hear the sermon or are they missing some points? What if there are visitors in the service today? What will they think? Who is that anyway? Would it be better to allow them to stay and disrupt everything or better for everyone else if they were to leave for a little while?
These are questions that would likely come to your mind. As you may have guessed, I’ve been in this exact situation and I’ve had some of these questions.
To get some answers, let’s turn to the Bible, the letter from James. I’ll let you read the passage I’m talking about first, and I’m sure that you’ll see the analogy that I want to draw.
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? … If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (James 2:1-5, 8-9)
I don’t think it’s crazy to imagine replacing “a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing” with “a well-spoken erudite guy.” And it’s not ridiculous to put “a person with a disability” in place of “a poor man.” In that case, James’ words are pretty clear and they sting too. I don’t want to be called a judge with evil thoughts, but I’m sure I have been at times.
Later on, I want to write more about what we can do in these situations, but first I think it’s a good idea to just consider our own gut reactions.
🤔💭 Tell me what you think.
Have you ever been in an awkward situation in church like this one? What were your honest thoughts? Has anyone else ever mentioned a situation like this?
We have such a situation in our life group with 1 particular gentleman. He's a welcome member of our group and I'm pleased he's there. Shuffling the disabled out of sight or out of earshot enables us to more easily also shuffle them "out of mind"; but is the exact opposite of what Jesus would do, I'm quite certain. I assume the person is expressing their reaction to what's going on around them that's quite natural for them. Best I think is to recognize it as positive & keep focused on the message. If you've ever been in an "Amen!" church, perhaps you're more accustomed to outburst of agreement; this just sounds like a different type of reaction.
I'm so glad to hear that that gentleman is welcome in your life group. Jesus was and is definitely much more likely to spend time with people on the outskirts of society than anyone else. I think you're exactly right that we can just think of outbursts of any kind as "Amens!"