the gauntlet

I had a quiet stand off at last night's mid week home fellowship; this is not the first of these-let me explain.
Do you ever sense that someone is throwing down a challenge to your name as a Christian? Demanding that you give them something or do something for them, with a silent threat: 'you call your self a Christian, so you can't deny me this'?
I've had people come up to me at a church service, spit out some financial trouble they are having, and ask me, on the spot, to give them money out of the offering. All the while there is this bossy, demanding vibe that, If we really are Christians, than we can't deny them.
Well, I have news for you all; Church is not an ATM.
You don't work, you don't eat; ever read that one?

Anyway, last night, a person approached me and asked if she could get together with my husband and I for a special meeting, just the three of us.
Curious, I asked what we needed to discuss.
"Oh no...just for us to get to know each other better, one on one," was her reply.
(Folks, I have a new policy....)
"GREAT!" I answered, "You are in just the right place to do that, right now! In fact, between Thursday Nights, Saturday evening prayer and Sundays, you can hang out with us three days a week!"
Well, you could have chipped ICE off of her eyes. The waves of outrage almost blew me back a few feet. Did she really give a crap about getting to know US at ALL? I think not. I smell a power hungry attention hog who believes there is some special ju-ju hanging out with the pastor.
Here's the deal. If you want to demand special one-on-one time with us, my first question is this: are you at worship? Are you at prayer? home fellowship? If the answer to that is yes, than let's make dinner plans.
Otherwise, you just don't understand the mission.