Church, Healing and Forgiveness
I had an interesting conversation with a friend yesterday, and it ties in with one of the comments on a previous post about the church's role in meeting people's needs and the fact that it was never supposed to be the government's job to do that. (Did I get that right? Please correct me if not).
But the church isn't always so good at doing that. That was part of the conversation with my friend yesterday. There are churches that do that, and do it well. I think the church I worship at does it well, and is on a journey to do it better. But it took me till I was 41 to find that kind of church. The church, and representation I had found of Christ prior to that time was harsh, judgemental and full of shame, blame and condemnation. Not a place to find healing if I was hurting and desperate. I only gave church, and as such, representatives of Christ (the Christians I had met before were not representing anyone I would want to know, let alone commit my life to) one more chance because I was desperate and I had a loving, caring friend who gently invited me to come to church with her when I was ready. No strings attached. But without the personal invitation from someone I loved, respected and trusted I never would have gone or expected to find in it a safe haven of love and acceptance.
Is church as a safe haven of love and acceptance the norm? Or is it an exception. The perception is certainly that it is an exception. Just read UnChristian and you will find an account of how most people not engaged with a local church view church. It isn't pretty. If you are a Christian and as such a representative of Christ, it is worth reading to give you insight into what others, those people termed "lost" or "unsaved" (and I have to admit that I cringe at those terms) perceive. And then see if you fit their perceptions (I hope not) or not. And reflect and pray about how you can better reflect the spirit of Jesus.
Which brings me to another thought tied into a previous comment, the one about Christians having two faces, one for Sunday and one for the rest of the week, and the reminder that there shouldn't be any difference because as Christians our lives should put a smile on God's face, even if it ticks off your neighbor...But how many transparent people do you really know? And how many are double-faced?
Which begs another question. When someone asks you how you are and it isn't anywhere near fine, do you answer "fine" or do you give the real answer, which no doubt is not what the other person was expecting. It takes time to listen and empathize. To me, that is one of the marks of a Samaritan. Someone who takes time to stop, listen and care. How many Samaritans do you know? How many people serve knee deep? Does the church promote a Samaritan lifestyle, or has church become consumerist too?
So anyway,I read the following quote on Pete Wilson's blog, which is what got me going on this stream of consciousness. He is a pastor of a church in Nashville called CrossPoint. I know I would really like it there.
The following was written by Henry Nouwen.
“When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ. When we say, “I love Jesus, but I hate the Church,” we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too.
The challenge is to forgive the Church.
This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organization needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness.
It is important to think about the Church not as “over there” but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer.”
- Henry Nouwen
This speaks to me today. We are a community of struggling, weak people. And we need to extend grace to each other. I need to extend grace to those with whom I don't agree, and I pray that they extend grace to me as well. If we did extend grace, we may be a step closer in meeting some of the needs of hurting people. After all, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" (Matthew 9:12).
And not enough healing has been going on.
But the church isn't always so good at doing that. That was part of the conversation with my friend yesterday. There are churches that do that, and do it well. I think the church I worship at does it well, and is on a journey to do it better. But it took me till I was 41 to find that kind of church. The church, and representation I had found of Christ prior to that time was harsh, judgemental and full of shame, blame and condemnation. Not a place to find healing if I was hurting and desperate. I only gave church, and as such, representatives of Christ (the Christians I had met before were not representing anyone I would want to know, let alone commit my life to) one more chance because I was desperate and I had a loving, caring friend who gently invited me to come to church with her when I was ready. No strings attached. But without the personal invitation from someone I loved, respected and trusted I never would have gone or expected to find in it a safe haven of love and acceptance.
Is church as a safe haven of love and acceptance the norm? Or is it an exception. The perception is certainly that it is an exception. Just read UnChristian and you will find an account of how most people not engaged with a local church view church. It isn't pretty. If you are a Christian and as such a representative of Christ, it is worth reading to give you insight into what others, those people termed "lost" or "unsaved" (and I have to admit that I cringe at those terms) perceive. And then see if you fit their perceptions (I hope not) or not. And reflect and pray about how you can better reflect the spirit of Jesus.
Which brings me to another thought tied into a previous comment, the one about Christians having two faces, one for Sunday and one for the rest of the week, and the reminder that there shouldn't be any difference because as Christians our lives should put a smile on God's face, even if it ticks off your neighbor...But how many transparent people do you really know? And how many are double-faced?
Which begs another question. When someone asks you how you are and it isn't anywhere near fine, do you answer "fine" or do you give the real answer, which no doubt is not what the other person was expecting. It takes time to listen and empathize. To me, that is one of the marks of a Samaritan. Someone who takes time to stop, listen and care. How many Samaritans do you know? How many people serve knee deep? Does the church promote a Samaritan lifestyle, or has church become consumerist too?
So anyway,I read the following quote on Pete Wilson's blog, which is what got me going on this stream of consciousness. He is a pastor of a church in Nashville called CrossPoint. I know I would really like it there.
The following was written by Henry Nouwen.
“When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ. When we say, “I love Jesus, but I hate the Church,” we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too.
The challenge is to forgive the Church.
This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organization needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness.
It is important to think about the Church not as “over there” but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer.”
- Henry Nouwen
This speaks to me today. We are a community of struggling, weak people. And we need to extend grace to each other. I need to extend grace to those with whom I don't agree, and I pray that they extend grace to me as well. If we did extend grace, we may be a step closer in meeting some of the needs of hurting people. After all, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" (Matthew 9:12).
And not enough healing has been going on.
Labels: CrossPoint Church, forgiveness, Healing, Henry Nouwen
posted by www.kathypride.com at
9:43 AM
1 Comments:
I guess I must be one of the lucky ones, because of the people I know best, most are "Snickers"--no matter how you slice them they come up peanuts (the same all the way through). Either that or I am just plain blind (which, of course, is always a possibility!)
Our pastor preaches on that very topic of us being the representation of God to other people. Earlier this year it was with tears in his eyes that he said it will not go well with us if someone turns away from the church because of what they see in us (hypocrisy, condemnation, cynicism, bad language, whatever). True, we are all a hurting people. Our pastor even says in his welcoming letter to new members that we will be hurt, that he will hurt us and we will hurt him, we will hurt one another, but that we have to operate out of forgiveness and grace.
To answer your question, Yes, what I said was that it was not the government's job to take care of the "needs" of the people, other than to provide a safe environment (fair laws and enforcement of those laws, as well as protection of the borders--common defence), thus ensuring opportunity for the people to provide for themselves (although, as Christians, we understand that it is God who provides for us).
You are absolutely right in that we need to encourage (STRONGLY ENCOURAGE) the church to be the "good Samaritan" and do what it has let the government do for decades and decades now.
The other question. Personally, I try not to ask "How are you?", unless I really want to know and have time to listen. I often use the greeting "Good to see you!" And when people ask me the same, if the answer isn't "fine", I might say, "How much time you got?"" Or I might say, "Not so good, but God is still God." And they can either agree, or go deeper. I don't do well at surface level conversation anyway. I recognize that "How are you?" is mostly just a greeting, not a real question, and accept it as such.
along those lines...I don't think our pastor is so good at surface stuff either, and I often walk to church since it's just over a mile from home, and he likes to greet people as they drive in. So I will show up and he will say, "What are you doing here?" when he really means, "I didn't see you drive in" or "Did you walk?". But my initial response is always to get my hackles up, before I realize what he really meant.
Words are so important and such a huge thing to think about..but that's a whole nother can of worms!!
I'm so thankful to for all the various facets of this election you have brought to mind. It's helping me solidify my understanding of lots of aspects of government, the elections..all the way round. I really needed to think things through to be able to vote with a good conscience and I just did not know where to start.
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