A modern day psalms 1:
Gee I wish my old church would take this to ❤️
Most church members don’t see their churches clearly.
In almost all of Thom S. Rainer’s consultations, church members perceive their church to be friendly. But as he surveyed guests, he found that the guests typically saw church members as unfriendly. The perception chasm existed because the members were indeed friendly . . . to one another.
The guests felt like they crashed a private party.
Gee the only time they would call when I was recovering from my kidney transplant (still am)was to assign wanda to help in kids school-not to ask how I was doing or show Christian charity and ask my wife if her and our Kid’s needed some type of support. And I knew they knew as well that they knew my condition when I emailed the pastor diplomatically.
It just taught me that a Idol is not only made in stone or people but they can be ministries programs,age groups,other groups we use to divide into or departments etc Reminds me of the parable of the Good Samaritan :
Luke 10:25-37 New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Gee nobody visited me at the hospital not even the deacon assigned to me and my family.who I do not even know they never contacted by any open channel from face to face to a simple letter or email.
Gee even know nobody has visit me nor had any type of communication with me from simple smoke signals to post-riders to a simple phone call to see how I am doing NADA its like the silence from doctor Who but in reverse a christianized hybrid it is not my choice not to be seen but theirs…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_riders
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silence_(Doctor_Who)
Gee I would understand if they were Gen Z kids and for some reason rotary phones were reintroduced replacing smartphones that I would understand:
Gee I never had a problem with a church I always made friends till now and becoming active using my God given gifts and experience.
I entered this church confident which later became hope and finally becoming hopelessness….it was like a Great Wall of China between us and the church tried to climb it nada,tried to go around it nada. I tried to enter thru the gate nada.
Till finally I just gave up now just going for these reasons:
-it is not good for Christians to be Lone Ranger Christians
We need a home church and I know there is no perfect church…If you are looking for it you are are like a modern day Ponce de Leon searching for the mythical fountain of Youth. You must find a church nonetheless that you can see the beauty and live with its particular thorns.
-I want to kids to know God while they are young
-I wanted to grow in Christ individually,as a couple,as a family and together with the church body.
-ultimately to use my God given gifts,experience and the wisdom it flows with like a secret agent or like Asimov Foundation series(one of my favorite book series with lord of the rings and Thomas covenant)like hair seldon who saw the galactic empire will fall and to shorten the dark ages till a new one arose after developing psychohistory which if followed would do secretly had one group the Psychohistorians behind the scenes guiding the plan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
Gee it was so bad that when the pastor preached on Mary being on the outside margins of society,
And I said that’s how exactly how I feel as well as the visitors,strangers who did not fit the church mold ….
Who God will bring to our church sheep to be sheltered,feed,nurtured,clothed,protected and defended….
“On the margins unnoticed outside,a ghost
Neglected Ignored unvalued strangers ambiguous invisible a Galilean, Jew a second class christain ,a Samaritan and no good can come from Nazareth…
Like Daniel 4:25 the writing was clearly written the wall-But I let my eyes to be blind,my ears to be heavenly to discern it was not earthly good,my mind clouded by mental fog and my heart to see what I wished was from the reality of it was not
Gee now taking my own advice I must be a Moses to lead my people-my family to the promised land-where I can see both the beauty of the church and its thorns that both mars it’s beauty and adds to it……
Gee reminds me of this verse from Poison aptly named:
Every rose has its thorn
Just like every night has its dawn
Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song
Every rose has its thorn
Reformed faith salsa style 