Shallow Words

Many of our polite greetings -- "Good to see you" or "Let's get together sometimes" or "How are you? I haven't talked to you in ages!" -- are gracefully disguised ways of saying, "keep your distance; I'm just being polite." It is interesting -- and more than a bit disressing -- to notice how often our social and business interaction say one thing and mean quite another.

It is widely acceptable that everyday life includes many words less meant than appropriate. But it should not be that way in the church. How often, fellowship among bns characterized by no more depth than flight attendants bidding farewell to disembarking passengers? Do our conversations often consist of the exchange of empty words?