Where Is Jesus?

A few days ago I was sitting in a crowded Starbucks in Medford. I just happened to be eavesdropping on people’s conversations.

A well-to-do, beautiful, poised upper middle aged woman came into the establishment with a rather plain looking slightly overweight younger midddle aged woman. As they walked in together; fake laughter and smiles ensued. The well-to-do woman’s energy captured the attention of everyon at the Starbucks as she came in. She offered to buy the other one her coffee.

I came to find out right away that the older woman was representing a local church; and that the younger woman was someone who had recently began attending the church. After listening more, I realized that the older woman was a pastor at the church’s wife.

The pastor’s wife kept talking about church, church, church, church. Never once did I hear the word Jesus, Bible, or Christianity.

She told this woman all about her church and her husband- the pastor.  She wanted to know all of the intricate details of this lady’s past church attendance and exactly what her and her husband thought of their church. Once again, no talk about Jesus.

And then it happened. The deal became evident- the church membership application was taken out of a fancy leather bag and was handed to the younger woman. No talk about Jesus, no talk about spirituality, no talk about Christianity; just a 1 hour speal to nab another church member- sickening!

From experiences like this; I have developed the Jesus test. When I encounter someone who claims to be a Christian, but comes across as a little weird, a little too legalistic, a little too charasmatic; I try to start conversations that will naturally lead to saying the word “Jesus” or “Christ”. But usually it doesn’t happen, which leads me to conclude that the person’s Chrisitianity is either non-existant or very watered down. Either way is no place to be.