At
our church the Hospitality team wears blue shirts with the church logo and the words
Guest Services on the front. Written
on the back are the words: Ask me. I can
help.” First time visitors to the church easily identify the shirts. They
know we are able to help with such important information as, where the
restrooms are located, where the children’s rooms are, how they can join a
small group or sign up for classes or baptism. Any question people have about
helping to serve at the church or getting involved, the people wearing blue
shirts are able to answer. We can also pray with people who are hurting or
direct them to the Pastor if they need counsel or prayer. The shirts work well
in letting people know we can help with questions about the church.
One
Sunday, on the way home from church, I stopped at the grocery store. I sat in
my car and thought about wearing my Guest Services shirt into the store.
Everyone wears t-shirts with words on them, and nobody thinks anything about
them, as least I don’t. I decided my shirt would blend in with all the other
random t-shirts with words on them, and nobody would notice.
At
the self-check out there were four checkout stations on one side and four on
the other. I chose one on the end and was almost finished when a woman
approached me from behind.
“Excuse me,” she
said. “I am having trouble with my receipt.
One item got scanned twice, but then another item is not showing up even though
I already scanned it. Can you help me with this?”
I looked around for a grocery store employee.
“You should probably
ask someone who works here. I can’t help you with that.” I said.
“Well your shirt says to ask you and you can help.” She persisted.
“Yes, but I don’t
work here. I know it is confusing, but this shirt is for my church. I help
people there.”
I apologized and we both laughed.
Had
she asked what aisle the bread was on, I could have actually helped her and she
never would have known I didn’t work there.
It
made me think about the shirts. If Christians wore matching shirts that said,
“Ask me about God. I can help.” I wonder how many people would stop us and actually
ask questions. Of course we wouldn’t have all the answers about God, but we
certainly could answer some: How do we get to heaven? Is the Bible true? Who is
Jesus? Does God really love people?
Having
matching shirts could easily identify us as followers of Christ, like other
world religions do with their clothing.
Then I remembered, we are supposed to be easily identifiable to others.
Jesus said, “Everyone will know you are my disciples if you love one another.”
It would be easy to put on a t-shirt that identifies us as a Christian, and
then act however we want, like we do with Christian bumper stickers.
It
hasn’t happened to me, but wouldn’t it be great if people asked us about God
because of the way we acted? If we really were so different from others and
easily identified as true followers of Jesus, that people stopped us in the
grocery store and asked for spiritual help?
“You
are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.” Matthew
5:14
