The Dentist

No one likes going to the dentist do they? I can't remember the last time i went to the dentist, i've never seen one in America, i never had one in Guildford or Reading...so maybe eight years. I'm just following a long line of Goode tradition. My paternal grandfather hasn't seen one since the 1970s, apparently.

Why do we hate going to the dentist? Rachel's dentist is a lovely, Christian, man, who prays for our family and lets us leave through the back after a particularly painful procedure. His office is clean and comfortable, there's the usual selection of magazines and soft chairs, the staff are always friendly... But we know what's coming. The examination, the guilt for past transgressions, the judgement, the encouragement to do better, the new routine we swear we'll stick too.

I guess that's why people don't like coming to church, but if that's the reason, i think i'm ok with that. As a dentist, you can employ the friendliest people, buy the comfiest chairs and find the most entertaining magazines, but you're never going to make tooth extraction fun. You should all you can about the first, there's nothing you can do about the second.

It's the same at church. Visitors should be welcomed, comfortable, well informed, they should know where their children are going, whose working the nursery. They shouldn't feel left or ignored. We should do all we can to welcome guests. Except...except, being confronted with Jesus, for the non Christian, should not be a comfortable experience. Not because Jesus isn't comforting, He is. Not because Jesus doesn't welcome, He does, not because He isn't lovely, He is...But because of us.

A kid whose diet consists of sweets and soda isn't going to like his dentist very much, until his dentist cures the tooth ache, and helps him eat better. The non Christian shouldn't feel comfortable with Jesus, not until He saves them. Look at Peter for example. They've been fishing all night without success, but when Jesus shows up, they have more fish than they can handle. Peter doesn't offer Jesus a business deal, He falls on His knees and cries out 'get away from me.' He wasn't comfortable, he wasn't safe next to Jesus. And neither should we be.

It would be a bad dentist who gave up drilling and washing because people didn't like it, because in the end, it's good. It would be a bad church who gave up the Gospel simply because people didn't like it, because in the end, it's the best thing there is.