Last summer, a large crowd gathered at the Wee family cabin in northern Minnesota to celebrate my mother-in-law's ninetieth birthday. At one point I realized that all the relatives had gone outside and I was in the middle of a room full of strangers. It's an awkward feeling. I wished that someone would come in who would be happy to see me and make their way toward me through that crowd of strangers.

A similar thought is expressed in an old song, "Some Enchanted Evening."

Some enchanted evening
You will see a stranger,
You will see a stranger

Across a crowded room.
And somehow you'll know,
You'll know even then
That somewhere you'll see him
Again and again.[1]

Just for a few minutes, imagine Jesus in that role. Imagine that Jesus is on the far side of a crowded room full of strangers. H…