Do You Recognize a Holy Moment?
It’s the first Sunday of the month and I am a Greeter at my church. This particular Sunday I can’t stay for my full shift because I need to leave about ten minutes early for a meeting. I ask my fellow greeter who is posted at a less-traffic door if she’d switch with me today because the door I typically “man” is the front door which has much more traffic coming through it. I know it will be easier for me to slip away early at the less-traffic door.
As I make my way to that door and open it, I see a “dressed to the nines” with perfectly coiffed hair, older woman on her cell phone. She is holding fast to the handrail that supports those who need help coming up the slight incline to the doors. Her conversation on her phone ends and I watch her hold tightly to the railing as she makes her way to me. I’m cheering her on from my vantage point. She comes to my opened door, beaming. I say “You made it! You are a winner!” I reach my arms out to give her a hug and say “Welcome, beautiful lady! Just look at you all dressed up and looking so beautiful for the King!” She, immediately, breaks into conversation with me. “Thank you for making me feel so good. I was on the phone with my daughter. She wants me to come live with her and she doesn’t like it when I go out alone like this, but I have to! I have cancer. It’s terminal. I don’t know how much longer I have but I do know I don’t want to stay home and feel sorry for myself. I want to come to church where I can praise my Lord and be with people. It takes my mind off myself. It’s the best place to be!” This sweet woman is preaching a sermon and doesn’t even realize it. I compliment her huge “Vera Bradley” tote bag she is carrying. She says “Oh, my daughter bought this for me! She got tired of seeing me carrying all my medicine in a separate bag. Just look in here. I have my medicines, my shawl, and everything else.” It’s my cue to ask, “Can I have a little prayer with you?” She welcomes it. I pray a few words of God’s love and His perfect timing for her race to end but in the meantime, I pray for comfort to her and lots more Holy Moments like today.
Like clockwork, another older woman is coming through the door who is carrying an adorable purse with a big pink bow on it. I exclaim “Good Morning, beautiful! I love your purse!” She replies “Oh, my daughter gave it to me!” And my other friend says “Me, too! My daughter gave me my purse!” The second woman asks “What are your names? My name is Delores!” “I’m Sonya” and I say “Donna”! We get into a group hug and are sharing in, what I believe is, a Holy Moment – a divine set-up for all three of us – women who need warm connections and embraces! If I were at the other door, I might have missed this Holy Moment!
One of the things about Holy Moments is they’re really attractive, and they differentiate us from the culture—from the world. Holy Moments are those when we set aside self-interest, where we set aside what we feel like doing, where we have a little conversation with God and we say to God, “All right God, what do you want me to do
Holy Moments help us to grow in character; they help us to become a-better-version-of-ourselves; they help us to become the person God created us to be—and that’s a beautiful path. And we create enough of them, people say: “Wow, she’s got something I don’t have”; “He’s got something. I want what he’s got.” That’s how the first Christians did it. That’s how they spread across the world at an alarming pace. They didn’t rely on promoting Christianity. They used the very, very powerful force of attraction. Christianity’s always been about attraction, not promotion. Let’s be attractive today to someone who needs just a little bit of our time that makes them feel worth living!