Well, we managed to make it to "building church"
two Sundays in a row. I want a trophy. Seriously.
It's that hard.
Phil's childhood friend, Russ, is pastoring a nearby church
plant in the town where I went to High School.
Just because I don't have enough irony in my life, let me make it very
clear that Russ was very cool during High School, as was his wife Melissa. And I was not. At all.
In fact, we were on such polarized ends of the social spectrum, it would
be fabulous if they do not remember that we went
to the same school. At any rate, I really
love Russ and Melissa now, even though I am still a nerd, and they are still
cool. We went to their church yesterday.
Perhaps some of you have seen the movie, "You
Again". It's really funny. Unless you're living it. There is this scene where, through a series
of strange events, Marni, one of the main characters who has long since left
her high school persona behind, finds herself looking very much like her nerdy,
high school self. Somehow, when my frizzy,
heat damaged, color damaged (it's almost pink again, friends) hair was
completely uncontrollable yesterday morning, I felt a little bit like
Marni. Have I mentioned that it was
already taking everything within me to drag myself out the door? Whatever.
Church is hard for me right now. This must be true, since I keep repeating it.
When I pull into a church parking lot, the only thing
running through my mind, lately, is, "Please don't hurt us." I get that it's pitiful. And, seriously, Russ and Melissa would never
hurt us! For goodness sake, they needed
our teenage daughter to babysit last night!
But really, the fear is completely unfounded and yet so very real. I hate that!
After a good worship service with good people, I went home
and crashed for two and a half hours.
Completely drained. Come on,
something has to give here...
I do have a point... somewhere...
There are a lot of people who have been traumatized by
church hurt. Many of them will never walk through the doors of a church
building again, even if there are really great places available to them. This is an endorsement. But, if it's this difficult for me, I know it is nearly impossible for
others.
And so... Let's
remember, again, how important it is to be
the Church. How important it is to
be the church in our homes... and our workplaces... and our grocery stores...
and our coffee shops... and our gyms... and our restaurants... and our parks...
and just everywhere!
This...
"Let
us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not
giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging
one another..." (Hebrews 10:24-25, NIV).
This... but maybe in some unconventional
ways... (and conventional ways, too... both are good...)
L.
L, what would be the most helpful thing (s) a church could do to reach out to those who have been hurt by the church?
ReplyDeleteVicki - Great question! I would say the number one thing is just to love people and to meet with them where they are, without the pressure to "go to church". That can't be the goal, because a lot of people who have been severely hurt are *never* going back. But that doesn't mean they can't be a part of the body. You just have to get creative with your meeting and being the church together practices.
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