Why Can't the Church Be More Like a Pub [james]

A few of us got to the pub early-ish Friday night before the place filled up. We got a drink, played some darts, and then stuff happened. And it happened more than once.

If you go, it may happen to you, too: “Some random guy” is going up to the bar to get a drink, or maybe he is standing in line to play darts. He just starts talking to you like you’re a friend or acquaintance. It’s almost like he knows you, but he has momentarily spaced on your name. You’re not a threat to him; he sees you as someone against whom he holds no grudge and from whom he asks for nothing but courteous conversation. He’s just waiting for his beer or his turn at the throwing line. He’s not asking for a life story, but if you gave it, he might not mind too much. This is a pub, and this is where you can talk about such things. A “Cheers!” here, a glass clink there, and now you’re buddies.

Not being a regular patron of bars or pubs, this activity throws me for a loop. If there’s any place I’m not sure I want to “mix,” it’s in the pub. It’s as if I might be afraid to get someone else’s unholiness on me or something. (Either that, or I’m not much of a mingler. I’m sure the truth is in the middle).

I’m more familiar with the restaurant attitude of “my table is an island”: if a nearby table makes too much noise, other folks start to get a little uneasy. Imagine a stranger at a restaurant sitting down at your table and just start talking about stuff. You would think him mad or creepy. You just don’t do that.

In the pub, noise doesn’t matter. Table territories have soft borders. People don’t care as much about keeping others out. If you’re not a complete weirdo, then you’re like everyone else who happens to be enjoying an evening out in the company of 100 of your closest Guiness-loving friends.

If the pub people were at a restaurant, they’d all be at one, big, loud table. Maybe you don’t know everyone at the table, but that’s just because it’s so big that you haven’t been able to talk with everyone. Didn’t talk to ‘em all yet? No worries. These same jokesters will be around the next time you visit.

I saw this happening on Friday, and I instantly thought of the church. Why was it that in this night that I could feel more welcome in a pub than in a ‘holy’ place? Why are strangers, who don’t know whether I’m a visitor to this place or not, more apt to chat me up in this pub setting than in the foyer outside the Worship Centre?

The pub has its spirits, sure, and they affect how people act. Certainly not everyone will be as friendly as I describe here. But the church has her Spirit, too, and this Spirit is infinitely more interesting, more powerful, and more significant than the pub’s once you recognize It. And It’s supposed to affect how people act, and in a very good way.

Somedays I wonder if the pub is more welcoming and has a better view of “come as you are” than the church.

I see this as a problem and the solution starts with me. The next time I go to a church potluck, I'll bring the 6-pack. We need to start building some real community.