Churches need to be less like national shrines and more like local bars...less like untouchable cathedrals and more like well used hospitals, places to bleed in rather than monuments to look at...places where you can take your mask off and let your hair down...places where you can have your wounds dressed.
It's like a Marine-buddy, recently turned Christian, said, as he lamented the absence of a place of refuge:
…the only thing I miss is that old fellowship all the guys in our outfit used to have down at the slop shoot… we'd sit around, laugh, tell stories, drink a few beers, and really let our hair down. It was great.
It's like a Marine-buddy, recently turned Christian, said, as he lamented the absence of a place of refuge:
…the only thing I miss is that old fellowship all the guys in our outfit used to have down at the slop shoot… we'd sit around, laugh, tell stories, drink a few beers, and really let our hair down. It was great.
But now I ain't got nobody to tell my troubles to, to admit my faults to. I can't find anybody in church who will put their arms around me and tell me I'm still okay. Man, it is kinda lonely in there!
He was looking for people who demonstrated authentic love. I found myself churning, whishing it were not so. I was hoping the new Christian was nit-picking, but he wasn't.
Stop and think.
Who cares enough to listen when we cry?
Who affirms us when we feel rotten?
Who will close their mouths and open their hearts?
And, even though we deserve a swift kick in the pants, who will embrace us with understanding and give us time to heal without quoting verses?
Without giving us cassette tapes or another type of audio of some sermons to listen to? Without telling a bunch of other Christians so they can " pray more intelligently"?
Yeah , We need more shelters for storm victims. It's okay if they look like churches on the outside, just so folks don't act churchy on the inside.
Most hurting people I meet are fed up with churchy Christians. What we really need is that special something many people find in the local bar. Put on your shock boots and see if you agree with the following comparison between the bar and the church.
The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit there is to the fellowship Christ wants us to give His Church. It's an imitation,dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality, but it is permissive accepting, and inclusive fellowship. It is unshock-able. It is democratic. You can tell people secrets and they usually don't tell others or even want to.
The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics, but because God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved, and so many seek a counterfeit at the price of a few beers. With all my heart I believe that Christ wants His church to be…a fellowship where people can come in and say, " I'm sunk" " I'm beat" "I've had it!"
What if your wife is an alcoholic?
Or your son recently told you he's a practicing homosexual?
Let's say your husband just walked out…
What if your wife is an alcoholic?
Or your son recently told you he's a practicing homosexual?
Let's say your husband just walked out…
or what if he is sexually abusing your two daughters?
Or you?
Who can you turn to if you just got fired?…
or you just got out of jail?…
or your 15-year daughter told you last night that she was pregnant?…
or you beat your kids and you're scared-and ashamed?…
or you can't cope with your drug habit any longer?…
or you need professional help because you're near a breakdown?
Do you know what you need?
You need a shelter. A place of refuge.A few folks who can help you, listen to you, introduce you, once again, to "…the father of mercies, the God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction (2 Cor. 1:3-4).
Christianity may be like a "mighty army", but we often handle our troops in a weird way. We're the only outfit I've ever heard of who shoots their wounded. That's what the marine buddy was afraid of. He had had enough of getting shot. Frankly so have I.
Or you?
Who can you turn to if you just got fired?…
or you just got out of jail?…
or your 15-year daughter told you last night that she was pregnant?…
or you beat your kids and you're scared-and ashamed?…
or you can't cope with your drug habit any longer?…
or you need professional help because you're near a breakdown?
Do you know what you need?
You need a shelter. A place of refuge.A few folks who can help you, listen to you, introduce you, once again, to "…the father of mercies, the God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction (2 Cor. 1:3-4).
Christianity may be like a "mighty army", but we often handle our troops in a weird way. We're the only outfit I've ever heard of who shoots their wounded. That's what the marine buddy was afraid of. He had had enough of getting shot. Frankly so have I.
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