Throughout the worship service, the man fiddled with his cell phone. I tried not to stare at him, but as his activity became increasingly obvious, his insensitivity became increasingly annoying. Others noticed as well. While the congregation followed Scripture readings and litanies, he played with his iPhone or Blackberry.
Anyone could see what he was doing. This first-time guest for worship did not try and conceal it; in fact he seemed to flaunt the phone, holding it up above the pew in front of him, working the keys feverishly.
Mark Ross
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“At least he is not making calls,” I commented under my breath. Sarcastically, I added, “That will be next.”
Apparently, this very rude man was sending text messages during the worship service. What in the world could be so important?
I wanted to watch him during the morning prayer, but was afraid someone would see me trying to see him! My children used to do that during blessings at meal time. “Tara had her eyes open during the prayer.” The tattler was also taking a peek!
I tried to give this man the benefit of the doubt. Some people come to church simply for the sermon. I like those people. Others hope to avoid the sermon. I pray for those people, if they have a prayer. My guess was that this worship guest was of the first camp. He was simply getting through the worship service until the sermon began. Rude, but at least he had his priorities.
However, when the sermon began, not only did this man keep texting, he began to text even more intently. I give him credit for at least looking as if he was paying attention. Still, he never laid the cell phone down during the entire sermon. I became so caught up with this man paying attention to his cell phone rather than my sermon I almost stopped paying attention to my sermon!
As the service ended, I took my place at the proverbial front door. The church door is where the sermon compliments and complaints have their first shot at the preacher. Sermon compliments and complaints are opposite sides of the same coin and should never be given ultimate value.
This Sunday I was determined to do the complaining and tell this guest what I thought about his rude behavior. I had my speech prepared in my head. It was gloriously self-righteous and would have made a Pharisee blush.
Before I had a chance, the guest started in with me, “Thank you for your message.” He was being so nice and friendly I was finding it hard to confront him. Then I found a way. “Were you able to follow the Scripture references during the sermon?” Now, I had him!
To my surprise, he pulled his cell phone from its holster, popped up a screen and said, “I followed without any trouble. I have the entire Bible right here, in three different translations.”
Sure enough, right before my eyes was Jeremiah, Ephesians and even Maccabees. Hiding my humiliation with humor, I said, “Well, I bet you do not have maps in there.” I should not have asked.
There are a lot of reasons not to judge other people. Jesus said not to do it. It is not nice. It is no way to win friends and influence people. It will come back to haunt you. However, one of the least admitted reasons for not judging is that we are usually wrong. We do not know what we are doing. Assumptions are often mistaken, and appearances misleading. Maybe that is why judging is left to the one who knows all and loves all.
Mark Ross is pastor of Marion (Va.) Baptist Church. This column originally appeared in the Smyth County (Va.) News & Messenger and is reprinted with permission.