Silence in Class

My church home is a place where I have worshipped and met multitides of people. I have been at my church home for 12 years and my life has been blessed by the words spoken in the church service, the lessons taught in Sunday school and through the many friends I have made. I have been a part of the singles group for 12 years but today was a day in which I ventured into the married classes for the very first time with my husband. We have been invited to a few classes so we decided that today was the day for us to start so we started with a class that we were first invited too. We walked into a class that was filled with many couples of different ages (mainly 28-45) and many have children and many don't. My husband and I walked in to the class and we were met by two men and one woman who said hello, introduced themselves, welcomed us to the class, pointed out the donuts that were available, and then they walked away. We were left standing there, alone, not knowing a soul. As we stood there looking around the room, I noticed that everyone found their friends and stood in their "friend" circles. My husband and I stood alone for almost 10 minutes before I decided to pick up my purse and walk out because I realized that we are new to the class and no one seemed to care that we were new and that we needed to meet people. Yes, I could have walked around the room introducing myself but my philosophy has always been that when a visitor walks into a room, I am to immediately walk over and introduce myself, walk them around the room to introduce them to others, and then invite them to sit with me. We were greeted with total silence. My first impression of the class was that we did not matter and our presence was of no one's concern. I realized immediately that the class we visited will not be our Sunday school home. As for leaving the class, someone overhead me tell my husband that I wanted to leave and he made a comment about no one speaking to us, so two women walked over, said hello, thanked us for coming to the class, asked how long we had been at HSBC, and when they realized we were not strangers to the church, they left us standing there again. We never made it out of the class because it started before I could make a move but I realized that we as Christians need to be aware of our environment and of those around us who may be alone in the world. The next time you go into church or your Sunday school class, find someone you do not know, welcome them to church or the class, ask them about themselves, if they are new to your church ask them about visiting your Sunday school class, and then ask them if they want to sit with you in church or SS. You never know when someone you meet may be alone and just need someone to welcome them and include them.