On a Sunday morning, a sharp awful smell came out of nowhere. A lady who was sitting beside me asked my nose sense. Flap!! Flap!! So stinky! Flap!! Flap!! She rested her hands from flapping the newspaper. Then she flapped again. Her flapping eased the awful smell. And I could sense the flapped wind freshen the air pollution. However, such continuum action stirred the other listeners’ attention to her during the preaching. A pastor from behind approaches her. She immediately explained the place she sat stinks. However, the pastor didn’t hear it. So he called her. A minute had passed. She stood up and went behind to meet the pastor.
Let us see from different perspectives.
From the congregations’ perspectives, it disturbed their time to listen to the preaching from the pulpit. They were utterly disrupted from their hearing focus.
The lady was concentrating on the preaching yet she needed to bear the smell. She bore the smell to the point of unbearable breathing. Opening her bag, she was looking for things to ease her nostril. A newspaper helped her to ease her pain. That’s the only thing for her to do so. Flapping it freshen the air and ease her breathing.
A pastor’s perspective felt that it disrupted the congregation. So he decided to approach her. However, he couldn’t hear her explanation and called her. She walked to him to explain herself. However, the people who sat at my row bore the stinky smell silently and quickly left.
What can we learn from here? Investigate the source of the smell. Stop hurting the congregation. Congregation and the church staff need to collaborate to solve the air pollution. Don’t let it continue. This can be likened to a sin that was not tackled. Once it becomes worse, it’ll affect everyone.
Please share your perspective on this issue.
Yoshiko 