come awa' ben

I recently read an article which talked about how many of the old Scottish Highland croft houses contained two rooms. The outer room was known as the but and this was the place where formal visits were made. You know - when the doctor, the insurance person, the minister knocked on the door, this is where you sat and talked with these folks.

There was also an inner room, known as the ben. This was where the family gathered, this was the room of warmth, of laughter, of tears, of celebration, of people being able to be themselves, and not having to put on a 'company face' and formal manners. The highest compliment a guest could be paid was, when you knocked on the door, to be greeted with a smile, a door opened wide, and given the wonderfully inviting greeting, "Come awa' ben."

I wonder how many of the folks who come to church for the first (or second, or beyond) time feel like they are received into the outer room of the church. They are welcomed, yes, but formally, officially, even (sad to say) begrudgingly. They are talked to, formally, officially, even begrudgingly. They are given a cup of coffee or tea, but it seems it is served in the company china, accompanied by the company manners, the company faces. Yet, what they are simply longing for is to be invited into the place where the family gathers, with laughter and joy and shared lives, handed a steaming cup in an old and chipped mug, being treated as a long lost sister or brother.

And I wonder how often, when I have invited God into my life, it is officially, formally, begrudgingly; with my company manners, my company face, my company formality, when all God is longing for is to hear those hospitable words "come awa' ben."

(c) 2008 Thom M. Shuman