In the 2023 movie, The Jesus Revolution, which is set in the Seventies, hippies have started coming to a church, coming 'just as they are', barefoot and all. There is a scene where one of the current church members tells the pastor that the hippies should be allowed in the church because their dirty feet will get the carpet dirty. The pastor basically says:
"That's what you're worried about...the carpet?"
The scene implies that some in the church would rather reject someone's entrance to the building...and potentially reject their entrance into the Kingdom...than let them get the carpet dirty in the sanctuary.
The pastor's response was fabulous! The next Sunday he sat at the door and washed the feet of the barefoot hippies before they entered. He didn't want someone's desire to protect the carpet to keep him from being able to promote Christ to anyone who would come and hear.
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For many years, I attended a satellite campus of a large church. At our campus, you were welcome to bring your coffee or tea or whatever into the Worship Center and enjoy it before or during the service. No one said anything to you if you walked in with a drink in your hand. They weren't overly concerned about the carpet.
Eventually, I visited the Main Campus of this church for a weekend service. Upon arriving, I visited the coffee bar, got my drink, and headed to the Worship Center...only to be told that I couldn't take my coffee in with me. They didn't want spills on the carpet. What? Same church, different campus, different rules. So I stayed in the foyer, finished my drink, and then eventually joined the worship service...already in progress. And I was personally glad this wasn't my first exposure to this church.
A few months later, I visited that same Main Campus again. This time on a weekday for a worldwide leadership event. People from all over the region came to this event...not just members of this church. And guess what? Everyone was allowed to bring in whatever drink they wanted to bring in. No one stopped you from bringing in your Big Gulp or the drink you bought at the coffee bar. Wasn't this the same carpet, in the same Worship Center?
Imagine if one of those visiting leaders decided to come back on the weekend to see what the church was all about? What message would they have received? "When you come here for church we care more about the carpet than we care about having you here?" Maybe?
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Recently, I was walking into a different church. One where I know they have the same 'no drinks, except water, in the Worship Center' rule. I was carrying a 32 oz colored water bottle. You know, the kind you take with you on a walk or to the gym. A person greeting people as they came through the door says, "Oooo, that looks good. What ya got in there?" I replied "Water" and explained that it was flavored with my drink supplements. She said, "Well it looks good."
Now mind you, you can not see anything inside this water bottle. You might be able to see the volume of fluid in it but that's about it.
It took me a minute to realize that I had just passed a test. I indeed only had water in my bottle. Had I had iced tea or a soft drink in the bottle, I'm quite sure I would have been reminded that those drinks are not allowed in the Worship Center. Protect the carpet?
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All of the above makes me wonder...here in 2023...what is more important in most churches...Protecting our carpet or promoting our Christ? Thankfully, these individual church policies don't bother me as long as I know what to expect. They don't bother me, however, what message do they send to that seeker, that visitor, that outsider who comes hungry to find out what draws us together every week?LITTLE LESSON LOVING LORD
Are we welcoming people as they are and allowing our Loving Lord to speak to them? Are we doing things in our homes, in our lives, in our churches that are focused on protecting the carpet, or are our actions focused on promoting our Loving Lord? If your priorities are out of alignment, what can you do to change them and help ensure people are glad to enter His house each week?
PSALMS 122:1 TPT
I was overjoyed when they said, “Let’s go up to the house of the Lord.”
