Seeing Eye-to-Eye

The former pastor of the Riverside Church in New York City was fond of telling the story of an elderly neighbor who had acquired an immense dislike for him. Worse yet, she was a member of his congregation and spent a good deal of her time conveying these intense feelings to others in the church. The pastor knew this, and he dreaded the day when his “good neighbor” parish visits inevitably would lead to her door. Finally that day came, and he paced back and forth in front of her building, trying to work up the courage to go in. Hoping she would not be home so that he could just leave his card, he climbed the stairs and knocked on her door. No answer. Again he knocked, no answer. He knocked a third time and heard a faint sound inside, but no one came to the door.

Then he knelt down and looked through the keyhole to see if anything was wrong. “Maybe…