If you have followed me on Twitter today, you then know how sarcastically I was looking forward to going to Toys R Us tonight.

I work in a retail environment all day long and the last place, the last thing I want to do when I get off work is to go shopping… but with Christmas fast approaching and with Toys R Us having a sale on the one thing that Jennifer wanted to get John the most… I came home, got out of my car, got into Jennifer’s car and drove 30 miles to visit Toys R Us.

Jennifer and John took me right to the play kitchen that John picked out (before you read any further… it is not a sissy play kitchen… it is a boy’s kitchen with a grill attachment and everything….) In purchasing this kitchen Jennifer had to run some interference so John wouldn’t know we were buying it tonight (John is only 3 and a half years old so he was easily distracted). Toys R Us was really busy, so that made it even easier to distract John.

Where the kitchen was on display, Toys R Us had little pieces of paper saying “Take One.” As I took the piece of paper I realized it was a description of the kitchen that I wanted to buy and the piece of paper told me to take it to the register for purchase. So I did.

Toys R Us was set up for 8 checkout lanes, but only 2 were open. The lines were both long, but as I went to get in line I noticed there was another checkout open that was off by the front of the store without anyone in line. I walked toward that checkout holding my piece of paper ready to buy my son his Christmas morning surprise. As I approached the counter, literally about 5 feet from the cash register, someone darted in front of me. Yes it was rude, but oh well, I know people are stressed out right now, so I let it slide. Then it occurred to me that the person who cut in front of me was a Toys R Us employee returning something. That irritated me, but oh well. There was a nice family behind me in line now and they watched the whole “line cutting” incident and they just smiled that “half-laugh-smile” as they let me know that they saw the Toys R Us employee dash in front of me right before I got to the cash register.

After a minute or so, it was my turn. I handed the cashier my piece of paper for the play kitchen and the cashier sighed loudly. She then walked away from me without saying a word and went to another computer. After pressing a few buttons and a few mouse clicks she turns around and asks me in a not-so-nice voice, “Weren’t there any of these on the floor?” I answered her that I believed there were. She then preceded to talk to me in a voice just shy of a yell as she asked, “Why didn’t you just pick it up?” I turned around to the lovely family behind to see if I was being Punk’d. They were starting to giggle. I explained to the cashier that I took the piece of paper that she was holding and it told me to bring that piece of paper to her for purchase. The cashier sighed even louder than she did the first time, and then she said, “You need to go get it and bring it back to me.” The family behind me was now laughing out loud as I was standing there amazed at how rude this Toys R Us cashier was being. The look on my face must have helped the cashier figure it out as she finally asked me if I wanted to pay for the kitchen. (Finally a question I could answer intelligently!) I paid and she told me that I could go get the kitchen myself. I asked her if I could get a cart or something bigger than the shopping cart as the box this kitchen came in was LARGE. She grunted at me that a shopping cart would be fine but if I needed something bigger, I should come back and she could see if she could get me a “U Cart” (whatever that is). I balanced the humongous box on a shopping cart and wheeled it to my wife’s car. As I wheeled the kitchen out, the family that was behind me in line passed by and explained that their transaction went much smoother. We had another laugh together.

Why am I sharing this long winded story? Because this story makes me think about the church and the people that will come to church this Christmas season, not because they want to, but because they have to.

I didn’t want to go to Toys R Us, but I had to get John’s play kitchen at a price I could afford. Some people will come to church this Christmas season not because they want to, but they will come to church because something tells them that is what they are supposed to do. Maybe they will come to church to make a parent happy. Maybe they will come to church because they have children and something inside of them tells them that their child(ren) need(s) to be exposed to Christmas at church. Maybe there won’t be a reason they come to church… they will just come.

When I was at Toys R Us I didn’t know the procedures, I didn’t know the protocol, I didn’t know what to do. I wanted someone to help me, I didn’t want to be yelled at. Many people coming to church this Christmas season won’t know what to do. They won’t know where to go. They won’t know where to take their children. They won’t know the words to the songs.  They don’t want to be yelled at. They don’t want to be looked down upon. They don’t want to be judged. They want to be treated with respect. They want to be treated with courtesy. They want someone to be nice to them. They will want someone to help them.

At Toys R Us I wanted to pay for John’s play kitchen but the cashier wanted to make it complicated. Most people coming to church this Christmas will expect an offering to be taken. They will give or they won’t. The church doesn’t need to beat around the bush and make excuses as to why its taking up an offering. The church doesn’t need to make it complicated. The church just needs to ask people to give.

After I paid Toys R Us and went and picked up the play kitchen, I wanted some help to get it to the car, but there wasn’t any. The church needs to realize that people coming to church are not all “one and done” shoppers. Sure some people will come through the doors at the beginning of a service and will hightail it out of there at the end, but there will be some “visitors” who want help. These people may not ask for it, but they will want someone to help them. They don’t want to try to try to figure everything out on their own.

I don’t like to go to Toys R Us and today didn’t change my feelings one bit. If the cashier would have been nice. If she would have been helpful. If the other Toys R Us employee didn’t cut in line. If they had all 8 of their checkout lanes open so there wouldn’t be long lines. If Toys R Us had made me feel special, then my feelings may have changed, but now, I probably won’t go back for another year… if I even go back at all. 

If the church would make its visitors feel special, if the church would make its visitors feel wanted, if the church would just be nice to its visitors… then maybe they might come back to church before next Christmas? I am not talking about watering down the message, I am talking about when a visitor comes to church, he or she is greeted warmly, they are treated with respect, they are loved, and they are made to feel as comfortable as possible so they can truly hear the life saving message that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.