While I lay on the couch because I'm fighting off an infection, watching the livestream of church, I'm challenged by this article I found and adapted...
Church is not where Christians really need to be.
It’s not where the work happens. It’s just our rest stop and our place to refuel.
It’s important but it’s not everything.
The real work comes when we leave our churches.
When we enter the doors of a school.
When we go to work Monday morning.
When we’re driving our vehicle or walking through Target.
The real work of being a Christian is in the real world, not in the pew.
It’s in offering some grace to that mom in Walmart whose kids are throwing a tantrum or shamelessly begging in the toy aisle.
It’s in listening to that coworker who may view divorce or abortion differently than you ever would and just seeing them as a person or a friend.
It’s in standing up for the person others are gossiping about even when their life choices are not ones you would make.
It’s in inviting those who are standing alone into our conversation even if it makes you feel sweaty and awkward.
It’s in letting a random driver go in front of you in traffic even when you’re in a hurry.
It’s in striving to understand and love those that see the world differently and believe different things than we do.
It's in standing up for what is good and noble and true.
In the Bible Jesus rarely stayed in groups that were like him.
He sought out those that were different, those that needed him and his message of love. So often he walked alongside those the world saw as living less than perfect lives. And he didn't kick Judas out of the 12 when he started making poor choices.
We are to do the same. We are to love on those that are different than us. Those that need the message of love as well as those that already have it. Those that, like each and every one of us, are living less than perfect lives.
Because if all we do is stay in our church walls and talk about how right we are, we are missing everything we are supposed to be learning there.
Out in the world. That’s where we need to be. That’s where we’re called to go.
Today we worship together, tomorrow we bring Jesus to our world.
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When your cool auntie has a sleepover for you and then makes you fun pancakes for breakfast, you just might be the luckiest kids in the world.
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