I started writing a post for this blog about transparency and our relationships, but I had to stop. I realized I can’t ask for you to be open and transparent. Every post I put on this blog I am afraid of negative and judgmental responses that I might receive. I listened to a fellow teenager talk and watched him cry about how when you are open in the church about your brokeness you are looked down upon. So I stopped and wrote the following. Some of this you may not agree with and none of it is meant as a blanket statement. Please read the following as I write from my heart on this subject.
We are the Church (Yep you are the Church)! What have we done? Instead of creating a community where people are encouraged to do better and to be open, we have created a community where people are judged for their brokeness.
Are you any better then the person you pray for? No! I have sinned! You have sinned! We are all broken. So stop judging Church. Someone told me about a friend of theirs who would not come to our youth group because they are afraid of us judging them, they are afraid we would look down on them.
Well congratulations Church (all of Gods people), look at what WE have done! We have made a judgmental community prone to rejecting the broken and we even have a reputation for it. When are we going to wake up and realize that we are all broken, that none of us is better then the other, and that our job is to love the broken. You are not better then the drunk man who just walked into the back doors of your church. You are not better then the teen whose arms are full of scares. You are not better then the man in the parking lot screaming at his wife. You are not better then the two men who walked in holding hands, the two woman kissing. You are just better at hiding your brokeness. Yes, you may be healed by God, but you still fall daily. When will you open your eyes and see your own faults?
No wonder America has been called a post-Christian nation! We have a post-loving Church. Yes there are those of you who are not judgmental, but too many of US are.
So I cry, Wake up Church! WAKE UP! I see your influence fading. When are you going to start loving others again? When are you going to realize that God loves everyone of these individuals despite their problems. When will you begin to love every one of them. Church you are not fulfilling your purpose by judging others, let God do the judging.
EDIT 4/1/09 12:02pm: Changed This: Church, you will go extinct, if you stop loving, if you keep judging. To This: Church you are not fulfilling your purpose by judging others, let God do the judging.
Reason For Edit: I incorrectly worded what I was thinking and overstated it, in an attempt to make a powerful statement, but ended up creating a sentence that was incorrect.
Love Everyone,
Brandon Maddux
Related Post: Love Everyone Even If They Don’t Love You Back
No comments:
Post a Comment