We have two cats.  Louise, who has been with us 13 years, and Tabs, who just came into our lives a few months ago.  Louise has been “queen” of the land since she arrived, and she is not extremely thrilled with Tabs, who is a teenager (according to the vet) and is full of energy, eating ability, and attitude.  He doesn’t hang around fulltime, but he does come for food and loving quite frequently.

Today, I went out the door to the screened in porch to pet Lou.  However, Tabs was still around and came flying in through the cat door to join us on the porch.  Lou was NOT happy that her petting was interrupted by this, and she started growling.  Tabs meanwhile was flipping all around my feet, so I turned my attention to him, petted him, and then he went to see what food might be left in the bowls. I turned back to Lou to pet her, and she growled, then jumped at my arm, and bit me in four places before I could get my arm back!  Normally she is the sweetest cat, and has never come CLOSE to biting.  But today she had apparently had enough, and it was on!

I quickly decided since Tabs was back from the bowls that food would help, and peace was restored.  I went back inside and got the blood stopped from the bites, and all was well.  Later I checked on them and they were both still on the porch, eyeing each other suspiciously. This whole event was completely unexpected, because although Lou had growled a little here and there, they had actually gotten close enough to each other to sniff and lay down beside each other, without any trouble.  We even got Tabs fixed, and he had to stay on the porch for 2 full days with her, and nothing happened.

As I reflected on this later it occurred to me that God had given me an impressive illustration of one of the worst aspects of church too many times, and that is this….many churches seem to be “closed” to newcomers!  They are places where people have been for 100 years, and who don’t really know or understand the process of winning people to the Lord, or gaining new members to help the church operate better and reach more people.  Nor do they seem concerned when the only changes in church membership are due to either death or birth.

Occasionally, however, someone will join one of these churches, full of energy, eager to learn (hungry), and with the attitude that they will be received with open arms.  In other words, they are younger, and still teenagers in their faith, just like Tabs.  And like Lou, the older members will “sniff them out” and even pretend to like them by sometimes “living with” them (worshipping with them) and acting like everything is ok…when all along they are prepared to “pounce” when equal attention is paid to the new ones!  And like today, people can get very hurt (bitten) when that happens.  It’s a very sad story all around, and it does nothing to further the Kingdom or honor our Lord.

Now I have been on all three sides of this…I was a member who used to oppose new ideas, I have been a new member who got bitten, and I am now on the ministry side of trying to help those two groups mingle and become effective together!  ALL of those are hard…and only one out of three is productive.  So I am challenged – and am challenging you – as we all prepare for Sunday tomorrow to stop and reflect on our recent church life, and ask God to show us where we need to make improvements.  God needs the freedom to move in our churches, our pastors need our cooperation, and shepherding a bunch of biting cats is NOT fun!!