Visible or Invisible?

            It happened again yesterday. I became the Invisible Woman. No, it’s not my new role in a movie. It’s the yucky experience that occurs now and again when I’m in a group. They talked around me, ignored my comments; they clearly delighted in updating each other but didn’t ask one thing about me. Still, I was doing okay. Until, that is, they all walked out of the restroom leaving me as I tried to figure out the paper towel dispenser. I gave up and caught up with them with wet hands. A bee stung my neck at lunch, but the sting of rejection burned more. I ate at the same lunch table and rode in the same car. I was there, but I wasn’t. I was just invisible, even though I saw myself clearly in the restroom mirror. Sadly, it wasn’t the first time it had happened and with the same group of people.

Today, as my daughter and I talked about invisibility, we laughed ruefully. We had that in common. Have you ever felt that way? Invisible? Out in the cold? I imagine everyone has. Perhaps the most horrible place to feel that way is in church. I actually attended a church like that. I could come and go, and nobody spoke to me.  As odd as it sounds now, it was the only one I could find that taught the scripture. Hmm . . . I’m not sure they lived it. Tragic.

Being left out in the cold has always felt terrible, but the other night I began to see an odd blessing in that: I have developed a strong aversion to exclusivity. No one should be invisible, particularly in God’s church. The warmth of the Gospel should permeate our lives in such a way that we reach out, live out the love that God extends to us.

Funny, when I became involved in a church plant, I wasn’t sure what I could offer. There was no greeter, so that became my job. I was somewhat apprehensive.  I’m not an extrovert. I’m not a morning person. I’m not Susie Sunshine. Yet I started loving standing at the door because I could make a difference. Perhaps someone would come back rather than never show up again because they wouldn’t feel invisible.

Do you ever watch political candidates pass through a crowd? They shake a hand here and one there. Lots of hands are out there, but the candidate can only grab a few. Somehow I don’t think anyone was ever invisible to Jesus when he was on earth, and I know that no one is now. When I’m invisible to others, I’m never invisible to him. When you feel like you just melted into the wall, you are seen and loved by Christ. We all want to be known; no one wants to be invisible. As a Christ-follower I want to stamp out invisibility in my church and in my life. I know that one of the things Satan delights in doing is to divide, isolate. May each of us who names the name of Christ make him visible by acknowledging the presence of others.