A Call for the Church to Rise!

I am deeply saddened by the responses I have been reading and hearing about from several supporters of the Kerry campaign, and those who consider themselves to be left wing or liberal or democratic. Some of the blogs I’ve been reading come from people who seem deeply wounded and deeply hurt and rejected by the whole of Christianity. Some were titled, “Unwanted,” or “Immoral,” or “Cast off as evil by the Republican Christian Evangelicals”…I’ve been wanting to write this for a long time, and it is in the heat of passion, as I am steamed, and hurt, and have been made humble as I look at our church – the Christian church as a whole. I wonder, where does this image come from?

Even the church in which I was raised, I knew that there was no room for outsiders, and I was an outsider. It was torture to go, but I was forced to…I had to attend, even though people in the “in group” talked about me so loud I could hear them...they talked about me, but never talked to me, never sat by me, or answered when I said hello. I was deeply wounded in a place I should have been able to call my “community” my “home” my “family,” and so I feel like I can identify.
It is no wonder that so many have rejected the church, that so many have found other means of fulfillment, other friends who do not know God. I am so sad! I am angry and disappointed because I have been there, and I have also been in the “in group” who rejects people. I am certainly not perfect or guiltless when it comes to being callous or turning a blind eye to someone who needs Jesus. But, I am thankful that my eyes have been slightly opened lately…and I am deeply saddened by what I see. I am embarrassed at my own behavior and embarrassed for Christianity. There are groups of young people who have rejected the traditional church and formed the “Emergent Church” and many other groups…these people may be a good example, but then again, it’s not about the atmosphere or how old you are. It’s about being the church, the hands and feet of God, reaching out to those who desperately need Him, who are hungry and thirsty. It’s about setting the captives free and healing the broken hearted

I feel a call to repentance. I feel like we need to be on our faces in front of the Lord, asking, begging His forgiveness for treating His people as outcasts. It is obvious that so many of these who are hurting today have been abused by the spirit of religiosity that is dominating so many of our churches today. We as a church need to be ON OUR FACES in repentance for the way we’ve abused those who are offended by the church. We need to pray for those who don’t know God because of the rejection they’ve experienced in God’s house. It’s time to give up our little cliques and our “in groups” and our stereotypes and to ask the Lord to allow us to begin to see others in the way He does. It’s time we begin to think about why there are so many people who feel rejected and offended by the church.

Our leader is a loving God who welcomes all. He created the entire earth and every person on it, not just the ones we like or think are beautiful or important. As a whole, we have not been the church that God has called us to be. It’s time to stop making fun of others because of how they are dressed, and badmouthing homosexuals, and start praying for them, and loving them, and welcoming them into our churches, because maybe if they feel and experience the love of God, they will find that nothing else can satisfy. Hearts are changed, perspectives are changed, goals, decisions, values change when we give our hearts to God. That is what church is about. If we do not let someone in because they are not Godly, then where will they go to hear about the Lord? Our purpose as the church is not to decide who is accepted and who is not, but we are called to our first love – Jesus Christ – who walked the earth with murderers and prostitutes because they were the people who needed to see His love the most, to experience His love. The only way for us to be the love of Christ, to share the love of Christ is to seek His face first. We cannot begin to see others the way Christ sees them without His help. They only way we will begin to see others through Jesus’ eyes is to focus on Him. I do not think it is possible without Him. It is time for the church to be the church. It is time that we reach out instead of shutting out.

I feel that this nation is facing a time much much more desperate than before the elections. I feel that the chasm between parties has been deepened by this spirit of religiosity, and I feel that the church can do something about it. The only way the image of the church is going to change is to BE LOVE, to SHOW LOVE, to give others the love that Christ so freely gave us. This is a challenge to all Christians. I think that more than falling on our faces, begging for guidance from God, maybe we should begin to intentionally pray for our eyes to be opened to those who are in need of Christ. This is a serious time, and the church has a huge role to play. We cannot play that role without the Lord. Seek Him now. If there is a need for a national fast, I pray that we will all participate. I feel that it’s time to become tenderized towards others who are not Christians and to pray like never before for their salvation and their eternity. This is a call to stand, a call to be lovers of God first, and to love others as we love ourselves.