Lessons from the Airport

Steve and I were flying to Nevada to see our younger son.  I don’t fly all the time - but about once or twice a year.  I’m old enough for that to add up to a decent amount of flights so while I’m not seasoned by high frequency, I’m seasoned by time.

Preparing to fly - the trip to the airport, the check in at the ticket counter, the security lines, and the trip to the gate to catch the flight - are almost always tinged with a anxiety.  I’m not worried about the flying, but one is on a timetable, right?  There is always the possibility of missing one’s flight.

Part of the preflight (we’ll call it) is checking in at the ticket counter.  I love that I can actually check in on my phone.  I can even pay for my baggage ahead of time.  All that means that I feel as if I’m walking to the ticket counter with the job half done. I”m not starting from scratch, but I”m not finished.  I arrive at the ticket counter where a million (OK, I exaggerate, but it felt like that today) people are bustling around to a tune I don’t know. There are lines here and there and various stand of check in machines.  Everyone seems to know what they are doing except for me.  Which line? Which machine? Which grim faced counter employee?

Today, when we got to the Delta island of check in, there was an employee standing near the aisle.  He asked if we had checked in and paid for our baggage.  Yes. Then go to this line which is baggage drop off.  Magic.  He had interpreted the dance of check in for us and integrated us.

It made me think of church for the person who visits.  I am definitely a church insider, but when I go to a church where I haven’t been before, I’m aware of the outsider feeling.  I imagine this is 10 or 20 times worse for someone who rarely attends church. We need people like the Delta employee who helped us this morning.  “Here is how you do the dance.”

Who would this person be? The greeter at the door? The friendly pew-mate? The person who works so hard to put the words on the screen (including those parts we all know)? All of them or more.  We need to arrange our system for those who don’t know it, not for those who attend all the time.