Search This Blog

Monday, February 8, 2016

To Meet Together



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.

2 comments:

  1. 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?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vicki - 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.

    ReplyDelete