I Shaved My Legs For This?

Deana Carter had the greatest album title ever. I have never listened to her music (from the 90s, I think) but I remember the album title that is also a true life statement, a rhetorical question that all women have asked themselves, even if only in sentiment.

Did I shave my legs for this? It is the question that ruminates in my mind while experiencing an event that is a total letdown.

This was the question that I thought of as traveled this past weekend to my husband's 26th high school class reunion (they weren't organized enough for a 25th reunion). My expectations were very low. I remember my 20th reunion, where after an hour I realized I lost my husband and found him holding up a wall with the rest of the spouses, looking bored to death. The difference is that my husband likes to meet people, so that experience, where he really couldn't find a way to scream to strangers over the music, was not very satisfying for him. I, on the other hand, don't like to meet strangers all that much, so I actually ditched my husband while he was involved in a conversation with a former classmate, got a Yuengling (it was a Pennsylvania high school reunion, after all) and listened to the greatest 80s cover band I ever heard: Velveta (because they do 80s cheese, I presume). So, despite my predicted level of enjoyment, I actually had a really good time. But this was because I gave up participating in the purpose of the event, meeting people, and went off on my own for awhile. Always the loner.

We have all had experiences where we can't believe we actually put in time to attend a lame function, much less engage in any grooming effort in the process. I imagine men say, "I shaved my face for this?" or "I put on a tie for this?" In college, I had this experience just about every time I attended a party (which, admittedly, was rare). My friends would drag me out at some crazy hour to stand on a sticky floor in a smelly place with people acting like idiots. Ok, yes, I was born 80 years old.

I also think most New Year's Eve celebrations fall into this category, and many Proms. These events try too hard and usually fail to live up to the hype, in my opinion.

I think about Deana Carter's question now in a seemingly strange context. At Nativity, we want to be an environment so irresistible to people, especially those who don't have a church and are searching or lost in the crowd, that they want to come back even though, maybe to them, "God talk" is scary or has negative connotations. We want to be a place where women don't think to themselves as they leave, "I can't believe I shaved my legs for this." We don't want men to leave Nativity thinking, "I can't believe I put a tie on for this" (which is a misplaced example, perhaps, since you can count the men in ties at Nativity on one hand). We want people to leave Nativity feeling like they made a good decision to get out of bed earlier than they wanted to on Sunday morning.

Nativity's mission is to cancel out the feeling many of us have as we try a new experience or event that is outside of our comfort zone. Nativity wants people to want to come back, even if they don't know Christ or perhaps even if they are resistant to entering any relationship with Him. At the very least, Nativity wants to provide an environment where even the toughest skeptic would be willing to come back with his or her family.

The hardest part is when we seem to hit the mark, we quickly turn to thinking of ways to improve the experience. We recognize that we never get it perfectly right and there is always room for improvement.

But that's the nature of church (at least good church). There is always a great challenge ahead.