Here I am yet again. Tilted back in the formal supine posture. The concentrated light from above blinding my eyes. Thinking to myself there are oodles of places I would rather be first thing on this Monday morning. Instead, I find myself trying to engage in small talk while my tongue is simultaneously being wrestled out of action allowing the metal scaler to debride away the caked-on gunk. You know, the incessant scraping that is accompanied with that eerie feeling like fingernails coursing down a chalkboard. And then the polishing – the incisors and molars and everything in between are buffed like a finishing phase of a drive through car wash.

If there’s a bright side to my semi-annual visit to the dentist’s office it’s that it allows ample time to think. It really is impossible to banter with the hygienist while my mouth is pried wide open. And so, it occurs to me while I’m lying there, churches around the world will be jam-packed this Sunday with scores of people who only frequent the doors once or twice a year. And I have witnessed first-hand that often our occasional guests are greeted with a good measure of scorn and contempt. But that’s never how my dentist greets me even though I only darken his doors once or twice a year.  His office is always thrilled to see me. Don’t get me wrong. My dentist would absolutely love to see me more than twice a year because that typically means some deeper work is occurring – action that involves shots, drills, and root canals. But even so, he’s delighted with the predictable semi-annual choppers cleaning.

What if the church conducted itself like the dentist’s office this Easter Sunday?

The word “church” is typed into search engines more this week than it is any other time of the year. Masses of people are looking for a place to land for their semi-annual visit to a place of worship. Instead of our typical judgment of their need for the deeper cleaning, can we just invite someone to come with us? It’s the easiest time of the year to ask! And instead of being put out that our precious parking spot isn’t available or that the seat we believe has our name written on it is occupied by someone else, can we be excited that our worship space is overflowing? Can we be like a dentist who relishes seeing her patrons once or twice a year?

How about it church? Can we be like the dentist’s office this week?