Greetings
Hi.
We don’t give greetings much thought or consideration…until we receive an unpleasant one. Or, we receive a memorably kind one. And, I would argue that we give receiving a greeting far more consideration than giving a greeting. For example, I lend more headspace to what people say to me than what I say to other people.
Think about how differently we greet someone who we haven’t seen in years versus someone we just saw yesterday. Think about how we greet someone who we don’t know very well versus someone who we care deeply about. Think about how we greet someone with whom we are upset versus someone who has recently done a favor for us. A lot goes into a basic greeting. Through greetings, we are unintentionally very intentional.
Coming out of the COVID quarantine, I have noticed a decline in overall social skills. With the pandemic, we stopped shaking hands and we covered our faces, both of which are critical for a successful greeting. I assume our extended time isolated at home has created a public casualness that wasn’t present before the lockdown. As a result, I see children (and adults) struggling with simple things like turning toward the person who is speaking, giving eye contact, using appropriate volume, and knowing how to greet another person. There have been a few occasions when I didn’t even know the greeting was being delivered to me because so many of these social components were missing.
Think about all the things we assume from a basic greeting. In the food industry, if a server comes to my table with a smile, strong eye contact, and welcoming words, I assume that she is going to take good care of me, she is going to take good care of my food, and she cares about my dining experience. If I walk into a doctor’s office and the nurse doesn’t give me eye contact, answers me with one-word responses, and rushes through the intake, I assume I will be in charge of my own care, she has had a bad day, and I most likely won’t get very good care.
I also believe that we, as Christians, can have a significant impact on others with something as simple as a greeting. Let’s take a look at how Paul greets the people of Philippi.
Philippians 1:1-2 reads:
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons; Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 things stand out in Paul’s greeting:
He makes it very clear who he is talking to.
He mentions their commonality (Jesus Christ) 3 times in the greeting.
He begins by extending them grace and peace.
Minus the formal nature of Paul’s greeting, think about how we could impact our world by incorporating these 3 components into the way we greet each other. What if every time we interacted with someone, we made it clear to them that they are the person we want to be engaged with, we acknowledged we have more in common with them than our differences, and we began by extending them grace and peace. Wow.
Let’s take a tip from Paul and begin to be intentionally intentional about our greetings. Let’s teach our children to be intentional about the social and spiritual aspects of their greetings. And collectively, one hello at a time, let’s make this world a little better by allowing others to see Jesus through us by the way we greet each other.
God, thank you for your Word. Thank you for giving us verse upon verse to guide us on how to be human. We ask that you continue to lead us so that our actions glorify you, beginning with the smallest hello.