Last week, church member David Brown—an MRI supervisor for an area hospital—emailed the following story to me. When I first read it, it sounded so much like a joke that I could hardly believe it was for real. But David assured me that this conversation between him and another person actually took place.
While working with a senior adult patient of mine preparing him for his MRI scan, I asked him, "Is there any chance that you could be claustrophobic?
"No way,” he replied, “I'm a Southern Baptist!"
Once I gathered myself, I said, "I think you misunderstood me. Is there any chance you could be claustrophobic?"
"Didn't you hear me the first time,” he replied. “I'm Baptist and nothing you can say is going to change me. So let's not talk about it anymore."
After getting my thoughts together again for a second time, I finished explaining the test to him, and guess what? He couldn't complete the test because he was—you guessed it—claustrophobic! So I guess he changed denominations while attempting his MRI.
I have to wonder, what in the world did this man think David was saying when he used the word claustrophobic? Was he somehow confusing the word “claustrophobic” with “Catholic”? Or, could it be that—unbeknownst to most of us—there really is a First Claustrophobic Church that meets somewhere in the Danville area? If so, I would assume the reason we don’t know about them is because they’re just a very small congregation without a building, and they probably meet outdoors somewhere. After all, large crowds and indoor worship services could prove to be quite a challenge for this group!
By the way, I once heard about a guy who confused the word “pedestrian” with “Presbyterian”. When he pulled up to an intersection and read a sign that said "pedestrian crossing", he wondered why in world the city would single out one particular religious denomination for preferential treatment, giving them their own private crosswalks. Hmm, that makes me wonder: What if there actually was a First Pedestrian Church? With a church name like that, it would seem their members would really know how to step out in faith and walk with the Lord!
Sometimes words can be confusing. Sometimes, we can make the erroneous assumption that people fully understand what we’re saying, when perhaps they don’t.
A few years ago, our church in Florida hosted a weekend missions conference. Every night, our choir sang an upbeat theme song entitled, “Here Am I, Send Me”, drawn from Isaiah’s response to the call of God, as recorded in Isaiah, chapter 6. A few days later, our minister of music happened to overhear his own children singing the familiar song they had been hearing at church for days. “Harry might send me”, they sang enthusiastically, much to their father’s surprise. I don’t know who they thought Harry was, but obviously they believed he had the ability to send them somewhere!
Then, there’s the story about the farm boy who showed up at church one Sunday with the family milk cow. Someone had told him the church had a new “pasture”, so he wanted to give ol’ Bossie some fresh territory to graze. (Hey, just because Mount Hermon has a new “pasture”, don’t any of you go and get any crazy ideas about bringing a bovine to worship with you this Sunday!)
Perhaps there is a strategic and symbolic reason that the Lord gave us two ears but only one mouth. The Bible says to be “quick to listen, slow to speak.” Furthermore, Jesus often prefaced important announcements with the phrase, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” It would seem to me then that careful listening is vitally important to correct understanding. We need to make sure that we clearly grasp what others are saying before we jump to conclusions and engage our mouths without all the pertinent information.
The other side of the equation is this. We can’t just always assume that people fully understand what we’re saying to them. We have to realize that sometimes things that are quite familiar to us can be new to someone else. We also have to recognize that just because something has been frequently repeated, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the meaning of it was clearly or fully explained on the front end.
Year after year, people in Southern Baptist churches have heard the annual appeals for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. But a few, it seems, never really got it. “When are we ever going to get that debt paid off?”, one church member is purported to have inquired. (Not a Mount Hermon church member, by the way!) Or, how about this comment: “When are going to finally raise enough money to get that poor missionary lady home?” Too bad they don’t know that “poor Lottie” has been home in Heaven for quite some time now—about a century to be exact—and the money we give to the offering that bears her name is given so that others might come to have a home in Heaven also.
All of this reminds us that good communication is needful and beneficial to all of us. So, whether receiving or sharing information with others, let’s do our best to communicate clearly. Doing so can spare us some unnecessary misunderstandings and embarrassment. And it might even save us from a potential attack of claustrophobia!
Pastor Danny
While working with a senior adult patient of mine preparing him for his MRI scan, I asked him, "Is there any chance that you could be claustrophobic?
"No way,” he replied, “I'm a Southern Baptist!"
Once I gathered myself, I said, "I think you misunderstood me. Is there any chance you could be claustrophobic?"
"Didn't you hear me the first time,” he replied. “I'm Baptist and nothing you can say is going to change me. So let's not talk about it anymore."
After getting my thoughts together again for a second time, I finished explaining the test to him, and guess what? He couldn't complete the test because he was—you guessed it—claustrophobic! So I guess he changed denominations while attempting his MRI.
I have to wonder, what in the world did this man think David was saying when he used the word claustrophobic? Was he somehow confusing the word “claustrophobic” with “Catholic”? Or, could it be that—unbeknownst to most of us—there really is a First Claustrophobic Church that meets somewhere in the Danville area? If so, I would assume the reason we don’t know about them is because they’re just a very small congregation without a building, and they probably meet outdoors somewhere. After all, large crowds and indoor worship services could prove to be quite a challenge for this group!
By the way, I once heard about a guy who confused the word “pedestrian” with “Presbyterian”. When he pulled up to an intersection and read a sign that said "pedestrian crossing", he wondered why in world the city would single out one particular religious denomination for preferential treatment, giving them their own private crosswalks. Hmm, that makes me wonder: What if there actually was a First Pedestrian Church? With a church name like that, it would seem their members would really know how to step out in faith and walk with the Lord!
Sometimes words can be confusing. Sometimes, we can make the erroneous assumption that people fully understand what we’re saying, when perhaps they don’t.
A few years ago, our church in Florida hosted a weekend missions conference. Every night, our choir sang an upbeat theme song entitled, “Here Am I, Send Me”, drawn from Isaiah’s response to the call of God, as recorded in Isaiah, chapter 6. A few days later, our minister of music happened to overhear his own children singing the familiar song they had been hearing at church for days. “Harry might send me”, they sang enthusiastically, much to their father’s surprise. I don’t know who they thought Harry was, but obviously they believed he had the ability to send them somewhere!
Then, there’s the story about the farm boy who showed up at church one Sunday with the family milk cow. Someone had told him the church had a new “pasture”, so he wanted to give ol’ Bossie some fresh territory to graze. (Hey, just because Mount Hermon has a new “pasture”, don’t any of you go and get any crazy ideas about bringing a bovine to worship with you this Sunday!)
Perhaps there is a strategic and symbolic reason that the Lord gave us two ears but only one mouth. The Bible says to be “quick to listen, slow to speak.” Furthermore, Jesus often prefaced important announcements with the phrase, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” It would seem to me then that careful listening is vitally important to correct understanding. We need to make sure that we clearly grasp what others are saying before we jump to conclusions and engage our mouths without all the pertinent information.
The other side of the equation is this. We can’t just always assume that people fully understand what we’re saying to them. We have to realize that sometimes things that are quite familiar to us can be new to someone else. We also have to recognize that just because something has been frequently repeated, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the meaning of it was clearly or fully explained on the front end.
Year after year, people in Southern Baptist churches have heard the annual appeals for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. But a few, it seems, never really got it. “When are we ever going to get that debt paid off?”, one church member is purported to have inquired. (Not a Mount Hermon church member, by the way!) Or, how about this comment: “When are going to finally raise enough money to get that poor missionary lady home?” Too bad they don’t know that “poor Lottie” has been home in Heaven for quite some time now—about a century to be exact—and the money we give to the offering that bears her name is given so that others might come to have a home in Heaven also.
All of this reminds us that good communication is needful and beneficial to all of us. So, whether receiving or sharing information with others, let’s do our best to communicate clearly. Doing so can spare us some unnecessary misunderstandings and embarrassment. And it might even save us from a potential attack of claustrophobia!
Pastor Danny
