bystanders

WHEN: August 22nd 2009
AUTHOR: bk
CATEGORY: Blog
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Imagine a typical Sunday morning church service. We wander in halfway through the first worship song, expecting to be ushered into the presence of God. We expect the pastor to stand up at some point and remind us of who we are in Christ. On some mornings, we expect the person next to us to pass us the communion plate. We expect a unique musical interlude during the offering. In general, we have certain expectations when we come to church.

Now imagine walking into a morning service, a little late as usual, and the room is eerily silent. No music. No worship. No one stands up to preach. A search of the room by quick glances over shoulders reveals that no church staff member is present. The congregation is uneasy, shifty, and a bit angry, but the room is quiet. Didn't we come to church? Who's going to “do” church for us?

There's a story that answers this quite plainly. In 1964, Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death on a street in Queens, New York. Thirty-eight people heard her screams, and came to their apartment windows to look down on the murder in progress. The murderer backed off, seeing so many witnesses to his crime. But after several minutes went by and no one came down to intervene, he returned to Kitty and killed her.

Kitty died that night because no one broke the spell of irresponsibility. Of the thirty-eight witnesses, no one even called the police.

Who's going to “do” church for us? Answer: we are. When we come to church expecting someone else to offer us church, we place the responsibility entirely on others' shoulders. Like the scene in Queens, we are witnesses, but oftentimes we don't get involved ourselves.

Ok, it's obviously very unlikely that the church staff will fail to show up on a given Sunday morning. But the point here is that our mindset can become such that we're not equipped to respond to times of need. We wait for someone else to intervene while God is calling us, each one of us, to go down ourselves. But we were meant to do differently. The apostle Peter wrote a letter to a bunch of people saying, “Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet 3:15). The apostle Paul wrote a letter to his friend Timothy, telling him something similar: “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season”(2 Tim 4:2). These are not exclusive instructions for stellar Christian leaders. They're for you and me, average people who might not feel like we're great Christians, or who have much to offer.

God has given us an amazing privilege to be His co-laborers in this world. We are His chartered agents, given the task to send His love into the most unwelcoming corners of the world. It isn't a task to be left to the 'professionals' because oftentimes there won't be a professional on the scene. It might just be up to us—amidst all our insecurities, shortcomings, and failures—to intervene. And we might just save someone's life, if only we act on our beliefs. God, make us ready!