Article September 16, 2013 Issue

Learning from Peter

Kim Green

I was running late, but thought I was going to make it just in time, as I was about to turn into the drive of my Christian Science church.

Suddenly, the van in front of me pulled right into the middle of the drive to let people out for the neighboring church. Their members were getting ready to start a parade from their current church location (a storefront across the street) to their newly completed, sizably larger edifice, some four miles away. I was agitated. How dare they use our drive! Especially when I was trying to get to church on time! In the ten or so years since they had started services, their parishioners had been taking up parking spots in our lot as their congregation grew by leaps and bounds. 

A man in an orange safety vest moved toward my car to see what I wanted as I was right in the path of the oncoming parade. I rolled down my window and said rather sharply, “I need to get into the parking lot for my church.” He walked over to the van, apparently to tell them to finish unloading. As I waited for what seemed like an endless number of passengers to leave the van, I was already starting to regret my tone. It certainly wasn’t loving or hospitable. This was an exciting day for these parishioners, and I definitely hadn’t contributed positively to the festive atmosphere.