church, and Church

A friend of mine recently posted something on Facebook that caught my eye.

This is someone who was a part of the church I used to serve as Lead Pastor, and for a moment I thought it was a description of something happening in this person's life now, or perhaps a throw back to the past. Here's the post in its entirety:

The pastor says they sit front and center. The gay boys. Sometimes they hold hands. And some folks have said he should address the issue. But the pastor tells me he doesn’t know what to say. And then there’s the man who sneaks in the back door. Fresh off the street. After the service starts. And leaves before alter call. The people sitting close complain about how bad he smells. Of beer and smoke and sweat. But the pastor tells me he doesn’t know what to say. And then there’s the young mama who wears dirty skin and lets her four children come in and eat all the donuts and drink all the watered-down juice. Some church staff say they “…eat like little pigs. Like they haven’t eaten in weeks.” While the mama just stands there and lets them. And the elders say something must be done and said. But the pastor tells me he doesn’t know what to say. And there’s the whore sitting among the faithful. And everybody knows her. She sits with a painted-up face, cheap perfume, and a broken heart. And those who sit close, well, they all treat her for what they think she is. And at the last staff meeting, her name came up. Something must be done about her. But the pastor tells me he doesn’t know what to say.

The pastor is a good man. Holy and just. And he wants to do the “right and loving” thing. And he wants to “look like Jesus”. And he asks me if I have any thoughts on anything he could say.

Yes, sweet Pastor. I do.

Start with this and say it Louder than any other words:

“Welcome to Church. This is a place of love and hope and safety and forgiveness. We will be food for the hungry. Living water for the thirsty. We are so glad you are here. You are invited. You are loved. Come on in—we’ve been waiting on you. Welcome here. We are the church.”

Say that. To the called and to the called-out. To the leaders and the greeters. To the dirty and the clean. We are all the same. We are.

May we blow the dust of religion out of our souls and choose affection instead. May our words and actions and reactions be a sanctuary for all.

Jesus broke many laws ( man's law not God's law ) to love. So, Jesus, be our voice. Be the only words we should ever speak.

*copied from a friend*

Then I realized, "Ah! This is one of those copy-and-paste-it posts." 

 

Still, I felt compelled to reply. So I did. 

This stopped me for a moment... I honestly had a "Wait, what?" flashback.

Because during a season at Connection, there was a gay couple who came every week and sat in the center of the front row. Only we didn't ignore them, but had some amazing conversations for months... they later moved to another state.

And there was an "scented" man who came in after spending time on the street. He eventually found a church family in us and stepped into the mission.

I started to realize this wasn't a flashback, though, as we never did Sunday donuts and juice - but during VBS, we did have kids who came in needing food and worn out moms who didn't know where to find it... so we gave them an abundance of the sugary snacks and later provided bags of food from the food pantry.

As far as who the local "whore" was, I'm not sure. So let's just say it symbolically was any of us, or all of us, or just me - and we all needed to be seen for who we actually are versus what the broad stroke of chit-chat or quick summaries said we were.

I believe the same is true of church. We will find what we are looking for.

If we're looking to find reasons why it falls short, we will find those reasons.

If we're looking to find reasons why Jesus said it/we are worth giving His life for, we will find those reasons.

If we're looking for reasons to not attend one regularly, we will find those reasons.

If we're looking for reasons to take the plank out of our own eyes and grab hold of Jesus who He loves us as we are and walks us into transformation while holding us along the way, we will find those reasons.

Oh... may we determine what it is we're looking for...
or else we will find what we presume we're looking for.

"[Let us honor] the true Bride of her Husband, because she is the wife of so great a Lord. And what shall I say? How great is that Husband and of singular rank, that He discovered a prostitute and made her a virgin. Because she should not deny that she was a prostitute, lest she forget the mercy of her Liberator. How can it be said that she was not a prostitute when she fornicated with demons and idols? Fornication was in the heart of everyone; a few have fornicated in the flesh, but everyone has fornicated in his heart. And He came and made her a virgin; He made the church a virgin.* - Augustine

#BeTheChurch

‘...love... as Christ loved the church when he gave himself up for her’. (Ephesians 5:25)