![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/52\/2019\/08\/BigGator.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLibman makes a sponge mop they call \u201cThe Big Gator.\u201d It\u2019s green, see, with a row of bristles that kinda sorta look like teeth, maybe. And the wringer snaps together the two halves of the sponge end kind of like an alligator\u2019s mouth snapping shut. Hence \u201cGator.\u201d It\u2019s a pretty good sponge mop if you\u2019re looking for one.<\/p>\n
So anyway, last year when I was on day shift at the Big Box, this middle-aged guy came in looking for a mop and he\u2019s checking out one of those. He\u2019s also dressed head-to-toe in Florida State gear: maroon FSU baseball cap and sweatshirt, maroon sweatpants with \u201cSeminoles\u201d in big block letters down one leg.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I stepped closer to ask if he was finding what he needed and he kind of shrugged without looking up. \u201cI guess,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you sure you\u2019re OK with buying a mop called \u2018The Big Gator\u2019?\u201d I asked, and he looked at me, genuinely confused.<\/p>\n
So I started to explain that I was joking about the Florida\/Florida State rivalry and babbled for a bit about that before just saying, \u201cNever mind, sorry. That\u2019s a pretty good mop, that\u2019ll work for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, looking down at the floor, the guy just says, \u201cMy son went to Florida State.\u201d It\u2019s almost a moan. His voice catches a little bit and he seems so deeply sad<\/em> that I\u2019m thinking the son must\u2019ve died in some horrible accident just after graduation.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not it. The guy pulls himself together a bit and starts telling me about his son, what he studied in college, the new job he\u2019s gotten down in Florida since he graduated. He\u2019s beautifully proud of that kid, but it seems the son is so busy with his exciting new job and his exciting new life that he\u2019s lost touch with his dad. So at first I\u2019m thinking, \u201cOK, so the son\u2019s fine, he just hasn\u2019t called in a while and everything\u2019s good\u201d but the more the guy talks the more I realize how genuinely he\u2019s hurting over that.<\/p>\n We stood there in the cleaning-supplies aisle for about 15 minutes as he talked about his son and I just kind of listened, occasionally saying something like \u201cUh-huh\u201d or \u201cthat\u2019s great\u201d or just generally the sort of things that a talk-show host might say to prod a guest to keep talking. The man desperately needed to say all this \u2014 to tell someone, anyone, about the son he was so proud of and that he loved so much. And I had just happened to be the first person he could find to tell it to. He needed to say all this out loud to another human being, even just to some stranger in an orange apron.<\/p>\n Happily, I didn\u2019t need to supply any profound words of wisdom. I didn\u2019t have to know or to think up just the right magic phrases of counsel or consolation. I just had to stand there, present, listening while this man explained that he loved his son, in exchange for which I had the privilege of looking him in the eye and saying, \u201cYeah, you do<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Turns out that was what he needed. He stood up a little straighter and then, with both of us slightly embarrassed in the aftermath of something unexpectedly holy, I loaded him up with some Big Gator refills and a jug of Pine Sol and sent him on his way.<\/p>\n And when I got off of work that day, I called my dad.<\/p>\n Growing up in white evangelicalism, I was always taught that it was my duty \u2014 my burden \u2014 as a Christian to be an \u201cevangelist\u201d and a \u201cmissionary\u201d in the workplace. \u201cBe a missionary ev\u2019ry day,\u201d we sang in Sunday school. If we weren\u2019t proselytizing our friends at school, or our co-workers at the office, or strangers at the bus stop, then we were complicit in their eternal damnation.<\/p>\n One of the best descriptions of this burden comes from Annie Dillard\u2019s Teaching a Stone to Talk<\/em>, in which she recounts ringing a stranger\u2019s doorbell to ask the homeowners for their permission to walk along Tinker Creek as it passes through their property:<\/p>\n The woman was very nervous. She was dark, pretty, hard, with the same trembling lashes as the boy. She wore a black dress and one brush roller in the front of her hair. She did not ask me in.<\/p>\n My explanation of myself confused her, but she gave permission. Yes, I could walk their property. \u2026 She did not let me go; she was worried about something else. She worked her hands. I waited on the other side of the screen door until she came out with it: \u201cDo you know the Lord as your personal savior?\u201d<\/p>\n My heart went out to her. No wonder she had been so nervous. She must have to ask this of everyone, absolutely everyone, she meets. That is Christian witness. It makes sense, given its premises. I wanted to make her as happy as possible, reward her courage, and run.<\/p>\n She was stunned that I knew the Lord, and clearly uncertain whether we were referring to the same third party. But she had done her bit, bumped over the hump, and now she could relax.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is exactly the kind of thing that inevitably results from teaching Christians that they are obliged to be \u201cevangelists\u201d or \u201cmissionaries\u201d to their co-workers. It\u2019s awful for everyone involved.<\/p>\n So let me suggest an alternative: Don\u2019t be an \u201cevangelist\u201d in the workplace. Be a chaplain instead.<\/p>\n Just be present and available. You don\u2019t need to supply advice or wisdom or sage spiritual counsel. You pretty much just have to stand there or sit there saying, \u201cUh huh, go on\u201d or \u201cJeez\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m sorry, that sucks.\u201d That\u2019s 99% of it, really, and even if we never have any clue about the other 1% and flub it entirely, we\u2019ll do fine as long as we get that part right.<\/p>\n And despite what was relentlessly taught to me and to that poor woman long Tinker Creek, I\u2019ve come to believe that this is what \u201cChristian witness\u201d really looks like. It\u2019s far less likely to make people want to run away, for one thing, and I suspect that\u2019s a hint that it might just be a better approach.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Don’t be an “evangelist” in the workplace. Be a chaplain instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[113],"class_list":["post-48252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelicals","tag-evangelism"],"yoast_head":"\n