Confronting Insincerity in the Church
When we are at the grocery store, we can expect an unknown cashier to ask us how we are. Even the someone we are only slightly acquainted with who is just walking by and says "How are you?" as if it were really just a "Hello". They don't stick around to hear your answer, or if they do the only answer expected is a single word in the positive range. If by chance you are in pain, they didn't time their Q to stand by and hear some tale. So, most people respond just as insincerely with "fine." My pet peeve used to be this: people asking a question when they don't care or don't plan to engage in a conversation. As a young adult, I would almost bare fangs when this insincere "question" was lobbed my way. Now, I ignore it because I know that it translates (in North America anyway) as a longer version of "hello". I just give a big smile and agree by saying "hello" back. I've come to believe that this level of...