Pizza Crust to You!

I was riding home from school with a fellow Candler student, and we
were doing the usual...comparing churches. One of the most important
parts of worship at the church where I am now is the "passing of the
peace". Since every Sunday is a mini "family reunion" it's important
to shake hands and welcome one another. My friend described the first
time she went to a service which included the "passing of the peace".
Afterwards she asked her companion "what's all that pizza crust stuff
they were saying"--her interpretation of "the peace of Christ".

It reminded me of two of our visits to churches when we moved here.
At one church, during the passing of the peace, instead of saying "The
peace of the Lord with you" an older woman said to my son, "you need a
haircut". Yes, everyone in our family except Mark already believes
that he needs a haircut, but there are other more serious forms of
rebellion that the family is dealing with, and forcing him to get a
haircut is low on the priority list. It was such a thoughtless thing
for her to say.

Just after we moved to Georgia I took Mark with me to visit the church
that I grew up in. The church was having a homecoming, and two of the
previous members who had been called into the ministry were each
providing a 5-minute (ha!) homily. I was looking forward to
attending, because my old friend from that church had gone into the
ministry, and would be preaching.

Kenny (name changed), who was a few years younger than me, had been
called into the ministry and was a youth pastor. Although I didn't
know Kenny well when growing up, since he was a few years younger, I
looked forward to seeing him again. I introduced myself to him, and
it was great to hear his story. I introduced my son Mark,
14-years-old, and Kenny immediately asked him, "Is Jesus Christ your
Lord and Savior? Do you love Jesus with all your heart?" I was so
furious—it seemed to convey an attitude of caring more about the
number of souls saved than actually caring who Mark is as a person.
Later I decided that Kenny was probably just nervous.

At the time, I felt sorry for Mark. He grew up in Missouri, and
that's not a question I ever heard anyone in Missouri ask. I wondered
whether Mark was prepared for this move to the buckle of the Bible
belt.