pat loughery

If you’ve read this blog for very long, you know that I’m trying hard to understand and practice evangelism. And that I suck at it, at least by most classic measurements :-).

Tonight I was working, getting caught up from helping my wife with her end-of-quarter reporting for her business, and I thought I’d ride my bike the 20 minutes or so into Issaquah to hang out at Starbucks – they have a great reading area, room to go walk around and think, a fireplace, big puffy chairs, etc. But for some reason I didn’t get ready to go till late, then I wanted to stay here in North Bend, and I had to stop by the auto parts store, etc.

Well, working maybe isn’t quite accurate. I wanted to review my sermon notes, read more of Divine Conspiracy and A Lasting Promise, which we’re doing our marriage workshop based on, and I brought along The Fellowship of the Ring because I’m only 50 pages from the end and I thought I could maybe knock it out and not have to stay up late tonight.

So anyway I went to the local bar and grill, whichi is really a good burger joint. I ordered up a fish sandwich and a Sno Falls Avalanche Ale. (If you like craft beers and have access to Sno Falls Brewing’s stuff, I think you’ll find that this brewer if absolutely fantastic).

My waitress notices that I have The Divine Conspiracy on the table, and I’m reading Fellowship of the Ring. She sits down at the table and asks if she can look at Conspiracy, asks what it’s about. I tell her it’s written by a guy who’s a philosophy professor at USC and a theologian, and the book really turns out traditional understanding of heaven on its ears. Seemed like a safe place to start. As soon as I got the words “USC and a theologian” out of my mouth, it became one of those layered conversations – one person note quite finished when the other person jumps in. It was fun.

She tells me that her mom grew up Catholic, went to parochial schools, hated it, but made her go to church, and then yanked her from public schools at the end of junior high and put her in a parochial school, and that she liked it because it allowed her to examine religion from a distance. I ask her if she has a church now. No, she says, but she’s somebody who picks and chooses, thinks all religions are right, finds God more when hiking in nature than a church building, so maybe she’s more of a druid than anything else, she says with a grin.

She likes some of the ideas of Christianity, but the whole righteousness thing annoys her. I ask what she thinks of when she thinks of righteousness, and it’s the i’m-right-youre-wrong fundamentalist stuff, she says. I wonder if she wants to know what I think it is, but she’s enjoying telling her story, paying no mind that it’s been 5 minutes or more, and she’s got other tables. She says she noticed I was reading the LOTR book, and asked if I knew that there were spiritual themes in the book. I suggest some I’ve seen, she suggests some.

The whole time in the back of my mind I’m excited, thinking “hey, THIS is exactly who I want to reach with this church. Exactly. Don’t f this up!” (I include that last part for my area pastor buddies who may read this today, just a little inside joke ;-)). And I’m wishing I had caught her name when she introduced herself before taking my order. Sigh. I think I remember though.

I find myself really enjoying this engaging conversation – this lady’s bright, thinks deeply, pluralistic and proud, and has some strong opinions. I ponder asking her what she thinks about Jesus, but the Holy Spirit’s so clearly at work already that I just listen, nod, interject a clarifying question here or there. At some point she realizes she has other work to do, stands up and says she really enjoyed the conversation, and goes back to work. I’m asking the Lord what he wants to do next. Should I offer her my email address to continue the conversation? Invite her to church and tell her it’s about relationship, not righteousness (in her definition)? Naw, none seems a natural flow in the conversation.

A few minutes later she comes up to me and says her shift is over, tells me who’s closing out my bill, and hands me a piece of paper and tells me about a book that she’s read that she likes. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire – the author takes the story of the Wicked Witch of the West, and brings that character to life while talking about why and how she became wicked, the nature of evil, that kind of thing. I thank her, she says come back because she’s always working (I don’t think I’ve seen her before, but it’s been a month or two since we’ve been in).

So I think I’ll go pick up the book and give it a try. It certainly seems to be an open door. We’ll see her again, this gives me a good excuse to see if Shannon wants to go out for a good spinach salad and cheeseburger.

And on the ride home I think, this is how I want evangelism to happen, in my life, in the church. It’s natural, biotic, it flows, it’s non-aggressive, it’s relational, it honors the individual. Maybe this CAN be done.

So for those of you who are out at Mayhem in Cincinnati tonight, know that I raised a toast to you, a fine pint of Avalanche Ale, while having a discussion about the nature of righeousness and evil as displayed in Lord of the Rings and the Wizard of Oz. You are Not Alone.