A while back I sat in a local chapter of a large chain coffee shop. I wanted to get a nice cup of Java and read in a different setting. Sometimes getting out of the office really does wonders.  I remembered the sign (pictured above) in my trunk that I’d ordered from another pastor in the US a couple years back and figured, why not bring that in set it up and see what happens?
 
Honestly, I was a bit nervous about it, but thought it’s a rather low risk activity. It’s just being a presence and making myself available. So I got my coffee, set up my sign and began reading. There weren’t many people in the place, just staff sitting at other tables on their break along with periodic customers picking up a mobile order.
 
After about 40 minutes I had the manager approach me and ask me to take my sign down because it was against their soliciting policy. She was feeling awkward and tense about having to confront me about this and explained that someone had approached her to say, “That sign makes me uncomfortable.” She wrestled with what to do because I hadn’t approached anyone, it was a passive sign just sitting on the table. She called her supervisor to inquire about the situation and was told that it falls under the solicitation category and that their goal is to be a “third space” – a place between work and home where everyone can feel safe.
 
I listened to the manager, smiled, asked a few questions, thanked her for doing her research before approaching me and folded my sign before laying it down on the table. She was visibly relieved that I didn’t get aggressive or escalate the confrontation. She expressed how awkward she felt and that she didn’t really want to come and talk with me about it, but that the complaint needed to be addressed.
 
I had a few thoughts about how I could have offered some resistance through further questions, but what really stuck out to me was that someone was so uncomfortable about a sign that said, “Free Prayer” that they needed to make a complaint. 
 
I could approach this in one of two ways. First, complain about our society, my rights being violated and the nerve of a person who would attempt to squash my right to free speech. But hasn’t there been a lot of that around lately? In fact, there’s been a lot of “god-talk,” religious terms, and spiritualizing of political issues utilized by some of those most vocal characters.  
 
Perhaps that’s the type of posture that has led a person to be uncomfortable by a sign that says, “Free Prayer”?
 
That consideration is what led me to take the second approach… to reflect on the perspective of the person who is scared or intimidated by such a simple sign. What has happened to them? How might have they been wounded by the church or people who claim to be Christian? I figured that my response to the manger will convey something to them… it will reinforce their stereotype, their hurt, their fear… or it will not. 
 
My hope was that my response was kind, anxiety reducing and didn’t not burn any bridges. Perhaps I’ll try the sign again there sometime when there are different people around? Perhaps I’ll just lay it on my table instead of setting it upright? Perhaps I’ll just show up there regularly and see what respectful connection might be made?
 
How would you have handled the situation?
 
How do you envision Jesus handling the situation?
 
In His Grip,
Pastor Nate