Listening to responses from others about a church community, and listening to the new Casting Crowns CD, I have come up with something that should be a part of every community, but unfortunately isn't.
LOVE Christ commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves and to love God. Churches aren't often the place where this love is practiced. We stare when someone different walks in. We shun someone who is going through a divorce. We ignore the poor person sitting in the rack row.
Casting Crowns makes it a focus of so many of their songs. Where is the love that God commands us to give? Why aren't we reaching out to those who are poor in spirit? Why do we ignore the broken hearted? Why do we criticize others who aren't like us?
More than anything I want TNQ (the new Quest)to be a place where people can come in off of the streets and they feel comfortable. I want it to be inviting. I want the people there to be accepting and loving. I want us to be a mirror for Christ's love. There are so many people who are pushed away from the church because they aren't typical church material. Because they don't fit a mold.
That's BS. Look at who Christ dined with. Look at who he reached out to. He was in the company of prostitutes, tax collectors, adulterers, thieves, and on and on. He didn't judge. He was simply there to love them.
Can we create a place that accepts others who are pushed away? Can we love dispute our differences? I hope so. If not, I don't want anything to do with it.
2 comments:
I like this entry becasue it is so true. i just got that CD this weekend and i love it becasue it has made me think, people are so consumed with just there "group" that they won't look at the person who is running the other way. the song that hit me the hardest on the CD was number 3, where it talked about the girl running 100mph in the wrong direction. i felt like that was me this past week and there was nobody that went out of there way to help. it's amzing how bad of a week someone can have but yet everyone is doing there own thing. i think TNQ sounds like it is going to be a huge help to everyone's life,myself included. I hope you are having a great week so far, Take care!
Their cd is awesome, I love it. Its very real...I am glad that you got through your rough week. Its hard sometimes to go outside of your group, but it is so important. For me, its hard to love difficult people. I know I have to work on that because church draws lots of types of people. As Christians, we need to slow down, take a look around us, and help hurting people. It reminds me of a commercial on 88.3 "Jesus heals borken people" Well, as Christians we are Jesus' hands and feet. This is our responsibility.
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