Weirdo religious strangers

I can’t help but wonder what the people from the church up the road were thinking when they wrote the flyer they slipped in our letterbox this week.

According to this flyer, we’re having ’Neighbour Day’ in our suburb this Sunday because the local church is concerned about people, especially the elderly, who are not known or cared about by their neighbours.  That means, if Eddie and I are at home between 12pm and 3pm on Sunday, we can expect a visit from them.  And if we’re keen, they’ll stop and chat with us, but if we’re not, they have instructed us to say “Thanks for the letter – we’re OK thanks” and [they'll] be delighted to have met [us] for just a moment.”

That sounds lovely doesn’t it?  That’s not what made me wonder what they were thinking.  It was the part on the flyer that mentioned it was OK if we didn’t want to chat because, get this, ”…we also hate it when weirdo religious strangers knock unannounced.”  *lots of hysterical laughter* and not just because I was one of those weirdo religious strangers in a past life.

OK, OK, they’re one of the more traditional churches and they don’t want anyone to think they’re Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses.  There are gaping differences in their beliefs, so fair enough.  But seriously, do they not realise some of their neighbours are probably Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses?  Does their flyer mean they want to visit everyone except the weirdo religious people?  How come there are no instructions on what to say if you’re a weirdo religious person who has visited them unannounced in the past?  And more importantly does that mean they don’t care if elderly people who are weirdly religious are known or cared about?

I’d like to think they slipped up in this instance because they’re really scared about going door-knocking this Sunday.  It’s not really a traditional church thing to do, go door-knocking is it?  And I can tell you from personal experience, it’s not a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  I’d rather be sitting in a nice pub at The Rocks having a beer, and I will be.