"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh" (Luke 6:45)
A couple of months ago,I wrote a piece on my blog entitled, "Strangers on a Plane". Today, I am writing "Strangers in a Public Library". In both cases,it's amazing what people will say in public! This one, however, is much more amazing than was "Strangers on a Plane". I am at the Framingham Public Library and I'm on a day off from my answering service job. I sat at a desk and worked on homework for our church's Adult Sunday School class. It was hard to concentrate, though, because just a stone's throw from me were two young adults, a man and a woman, both probably no older than 28,if that. They were talking loudly about some sort of housing dispute they were having with a woman who owed them lots of money. They also were comparing notes about all the stuff they can get from the system, be it churches or government. They named two churches who had helped them. The guy loudly praised an independent Protestant church as being far better than a Baptist church, in that while both gave them a lot of help, the independent Protestant church did not try to push any of their beliefs on him. He made it a point to say he does not embrace Christian beliefs but is happy to take a church's money. Then, in a tirade pepperd with "F-Bombs" he spoke of the woman they are in a dispute with. He stated he plans to kill her if and when he sees her, and underscored how serious he is about that.
What does a Christian do in such an instance as I was today?
You know, many years ago, I would have probably leaped to my feet, and rebuked them, while quoting a bunch of Bible verses. Yes, that is what I would have done back in the 1980s. Today, I was just not sure what to so. For to them, I'm a stranger. I'm old enough to be their father. I was young in another era. My faith is very precious to me. I found their conversation appalling. Yet, if I am to be totally honest, sometimes I have hatred in my heart. Sometimes I think bad things. Sometimes I am very selfish. I did turn and I stared at the woman, who was facing my direction. I gave her a look as if to say, "You're in a library, and you both should be very ashamed of yourselves!"
She did not flinch. They just continued on. After awhile, their conversation quieted down and then stopped. I got my Sunday School homework done. Yet, I just couldn't leave the library without sharing this.
EMMYS 1970: My World...and Welcome To It
1 year ago
2 comments:
Wow, if nothing else, calmly asking them to quiet down would not have been a bad thing. Maybe they don't know any library etiquette. It is too bad that they see the church only as a free lunch, I may have felt the same way at one point in my life, so rebuking them would not necessarily be the best thing to do. I doubt they would have received it.
I practically lived in libraries when I was in High School. In those days, we were not allowed to speak above a whisper in order not to disturb others who were reading or studying. How different things are today. The librarians where Bob was should have asked those two people to leave. But political correctness does not allow for that. We are in really different times.
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