Pet Peeves #1

Intro
I've pretty much gone through life without any pet peeves (must be my StrengthsFinder-labelled strength of "adaptability"). And in a sinful, selfish way, I'm quite proud of that! My biggest pet peeve is that more people aren't pet-peeveless like me. ;o)

But as I grow older, I find myself gaining some pet peeves. And so I thought I would do a series on my blog of the pet peeves I have. So enjoy this: this will be one of the few times you'll probably get to see my whine and complain.

PET PEEVE #1
My first pet peeve is unwelcoming Christians. It drives me NUTS when I see Jesus-followers only talking with their friends and never engaging a new person in conversation.

About 4 weeks ago, I watched a regular "Watershedder" literally push past a new person who was standing alone to go greet some friends. If I hadn't been engaged in conversation with a new person at that very moment myself, I would have excused myself to go greet the ignored person to offset the feeling he might have been experiencing at that moment. I was so glad to hear that later on, someone else approached him and invited him to join a group for an "after the Thursday Gathering" event, but the event I witnessed never should have happened in the first place (in my opinion).

It is very understandable why people don't go greet new people. We were trained as little kids to "not talk to strangers." Plus, we fear that if we approach the person and the conversation doesn't easily click, then they will reject us. So rather than face rejection, we don't welcome the person at all. But by not welcoming them, we are nonverbally rejecting them!

But if Jesus, as a Jewish male, can initiate a conversation with a Samaritan female, who had had 5 husbands and a live in boyfriend, to better lead her into a true relationship with God the Father (John 4), then shouldn't we imitate our Rabbi and initiate conversations with whoever walks into our worship gatherings, our homes, and our lives?