Spiritual connections: First impressions last

In the morning, when I arrived at the senior living community where I’m chaplain, a work crew was already at the main entrance redoing and renewing all the landscaping with new plantings and mulch. Immediately, wise advice given to me years ago by a creative church consultant friend popped into my mind. “Renew and refresh the landscaping around the front of your church frequently,” he said. “It’s the first impression first-time visitors receive about your congregation.”

First impressions are lasting impressions, and we never get a second chance to make a first impression. This is a common-sense truth that may quickly slip from our minds but is just as quickly noticed by those we meet in new relationships. And then, once that first impression is pegged into their mind, it’s just as quickly recalled when we meet the second time, and so on and so on!

Greeters who volunteer or are enlisted set the tone for whole worshipping communities that arrive by the first impression they make, even before a word is spoken by the worship leader and even before a note of any song or hymn is sung. A greeter’s first impression may just have such an impact that it makes everyone in the whole gathering into greeters, for good or for ill.

So, as you can see, I’m a pastor and a churchgoer, but I’m also a Rotarian who makes a habit of attending club meetings, home and away. One of the clubs I visit is a singing club, whose most frequently chosen song together may be familiar to you. It’s also commonly sung at many Kiwanis Club meetings:

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Smile and the world smiles with you,

Sing a song.

Don’t be weary,

Just be cheery all day long.

Whenever your trials,

Your troubles and your care

Seem to be more than you can really bear …

Smile and the world smiles with you,

Sing a song!

It is often said that “the shortest distance between two people is a smile,” so it only makes common sense that a smile is the best and simplest first impression that’s also a lasting impression. Remember, we will never get a second chance to make a first impression! Besides that, a smile never hurt our looks either!

Editor’s note: Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) contributor Pastor Rod Anderson also serves on the EPLN Board of Directors. He was the senior pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie. Interested in contributing a faith-based column to EPLN? Email editor@eplocalnews.org.