That sweet smell. It lofted in the air and spread throughout the entire subway train. It was around 8pm and the subway seats were full. Unlike most of the day very few passengers were standing. There was plenty of room for admiring the large bouquet of flowers the woman brought with her into the subway car. There was a delicate array of white and green. Azaleas maybe. White Lillies definitely. Some Babies breathe for accent. The smell was strong but not too strong because it dispersed throughout the car.
It was time for me to get off. My stop came. Usually I’m ready to get out of there! Not this time. I wanted to stay with the scent of beauty. The subway is a dirty place. Yet that smell radiating from the bouquet made a dirty, busy and stressful place beautiful and peaceful. I got off grateful for a smell of beauty which had come to me.
And then the smell was there again. I looked and there was the woman with her bouquet. The flower carrier was following me! They, the woman and her flowers, had gotten off behind me. As she walked past me with swift steps, swifter than mine, the way Seoulites do in the underground subway dungeons, there was that sweet lingering smell of heaven. The smell was walking with me for a while. It went with her while leaving its mark wherever it passed. The flower carrier changed the tone of my day! As she walked by I thought about all those people who would smell the gift she carried with her. They too would be unsuspectingly gifted.
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Exiting out of a subway station is like finding your way through a maze inside a pinball machine. I found my way up and down stairs, past the masses, and to my exit. I walked past the little coffee and pastry stand. It sits in a corner near the exit of the stairs up and out of the subway dungeon. It is a little 7 foot by 7-foot space. “French Kiss” is the name of this snack stand. An interesting name for a sweet snack shop in a subway dungeon.
Most weekdays during the summer I’ve walked past “French Kiss” on my way to school. Many times I’ve wanted to stop and buy something. I’m never hungry when I walk by. Yet those smells of bagels, croissants, waffles, muffins and coffee always play games with the mind of my stomach. It all smells so inviting. The shopkeepers must put out their “French Kiss” smells for a reason. They know people are in a hurry. They know their smell will draw people’s thoughts to their cash registers. Sometimes I’ve asked myself, “Is that smell for real or is it some artificial air freshener concocted to bring the customers to it?”
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Could the “French Kiss” pastry shop be liken to our modern understanding of Church? I like the “French Kiss” stand! But her smells of influence only go so far. Even if I didn’t bite at her smell, it was always there if I needed it. It offered great smells whenever I passed by. But I never once went there in 10 weeks of school. I wasn’t hungry and I didn’t need what she had to offer even if the smells were wonderful. But why do I need to be hungry in order to eat there? Shouldn’t I get what I want, when I want it, and as long as I want it?
The smell was calling me in to consume what delights I might find at affordable prices. If I would have eaten there, I imagine it would be an enjoyable experience. They’d be sure to make me satisfied. I’d get my money’s worth. And if it was a great experience, they’d be happy for me to return with an appetite for more coffee and pastry.
They’d be patient with me until I became tired of what they had to offer. At that time I could search for other shops with fresher smells. I’d try the others out. I’d make my observations, take my measurements and formulate ideas in order to test the new places to the last one. How does this fair against other like products on the market?
The church puts out her “sweet” smells hoping people will see her advertisements, banners, TV spots, and hip websites. Her sweet smell draws people into a place. And often they come and keep coming!! But what are our sweet smells leading people into being and doing? And why are they being and doing what they are doing? Is there more than being a “French Kiss” pastry stand that is praying for hungry passer-by's to stop and make a purchase? Is there more to acquiring repeat customers? There has to me more.
There is!
As the aroma of flowers waded through the air I couldn’t help but think of the images in Scriptures of being “fragrant offerings”. Instead of a “French Kiss” stand releasing pleasing odors into a limited space we carry this fragrance with us wherever we go. We can even bring this fragrance into the “French Kiss” pastry shop! Our aromatic lives hint to the one who takes up residence in us an in whom we take residence in. Wherever we go we host this fragrance. Yet the fragrance also hosts us! Noses turn. Minds wonder. A place of ugly takes on beauty. The aroma takes hold of the stress in the air and consumes it with relief. We, who bear His aroma, make company with the world around us. And the world finds company in Jesus. I want to come into contact with more aroma bearers! If a Flower carrier can change my day, what better would a Jesus carrier do? Jesus carrier's would also transform dirty places. Yeah, the subway dungeon was still the dungeon but it was a different subway dungeon!
What is compelling about the aroma of Christ is that it has no walls and no borders. It goes out and finds people more than people go out and find it. And it isn’t like this aroma carrier goes out scheming to find and share her beauty with one lucky unsuspecting person. That happens too. But it is more than that! The aroma goes into the subway, the street, the coffee shop, the gym, the school room, the apartment building, and everywhere. It isn’t housed in a building that people have to come to in order to smell it. It disperses. It comes to people. It pays a visit. It sprinkles beauty into the dirty ugly. It is fluid and creative. It enters into places representative to particular communities. The church as I've known it has often been less like the "flower carrier" and more like “French Kiss”. I do think there is more for the church. That is why I was so captivated by the wandering women with her bouquet of flowers. Maybe it is time to stop settling for doing “French Kiss” church and start being “flower carriers”! I’d take a “Flower Carrier” over “French Kiss” any day.
