Damaged

As I spent some time online today, I found myself on a friend's facebook page. His religious view read: The church has damaged many in the name of God.
How true this statement is. It is not necessarily intentional but over and over the church has hurt, ridiculed, shunned, or attacked others. We claim to do everything in the name of God but as humans we continually fall short of His perfection, love, mercy, and grace. We could never be God because His ways are so far beyond ours that we can not even mimic Him well. Yet He continues to allow us to carry His name. We go out into a lost, hurting, and dying world. We carry the name of love and truth and grace. We carry the name of a savior. Sometimes we are not reflections of that love, truth, and grace.
So I guess my question is, if we agree that "the church has damaged many in the name of God," how do we become part of the solution rather than part of the problem?

Faith Like A Child

I absolutely love our daycare kids. For those of you who don’t know, the church where I am interning has a daycare that meets in our building five days a week. Because of this, we are constantly interacting with the kids in one way or another. Some days are better than others (you would believe how much the sound of a child crying can carry through a church building). However, I would not trade having them here. They constantly brighten my day. Last week, as my day was finishing up I began to hear a child singing. My office shares a wall with the men’s restroom. One of the little boys was in the restroom singing the national anthem. It was adorable.
Just a few moments ago, I walked out to the refrigerator to grab my lunch. As I did so, one of the daycare teachers said, “Let’s pray,” in preparation for their lunch. Instantly, about twenty little heads were bowed and hands were folded. It reminded me that we are called to have faith like a child. It is a beautiful thing.

Ten (Parodoxical) Commands

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
5. Honest and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest mean and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.
~Kent Keith

Your Story...

Last Saturday I found myself sitting in another church sanctuary. I realize that this isn't a big shock for those of you who know me well. It is not uncommon for me to be sitting in a church any day of the week. However, this day was different. I slipped into the very last pew. Greeted very few. Found myself hiding close to the sound board. I was not in this place for the typical church service. I was here to pay my respects to local 16 year old Sawyer Peterman and his family.
As I sat in this room, filled with people ranging in age from young children to grandparents who were all hurting, I realized very quickly that if Jesus were walking the streets today this is probably the type of place you'd be most likely to find him. He would not be among those following all the rules. I don't think he would be in a church office. He would be found among the broken and hurting. He would be holding the hand of Sawyer's mother. Or playing ball with his little brother. This is the kind of Savior who amazes me over and over.

Growth

"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. Cancer has no purpose but growth; but it does have another result – the death of the host.” Edward Abby
This is a quote I read today that I believe we must continually be mindful of in the church. Growth for the sake of growth will do nothing but suck the life out of us. We must seek God and seek relationship with Him. If growth is a result of this, awesome! If not, maybe God has another plan.

Blessings

Lately, I have started attending our college age Bible study The Fold at Bloomsburg Christian Church. In order to get a full understanding of this, you must understand that the church is located about 10 minutes from Bloomsburg University. To most, the school is known for its great teacher education and ASL programs and the crazy parties that are held each year.
Lately, I've gotten to see another side of BU. Every Thursday night 20-30 current students and alumni gather at BCC for worship and Bible study. Everyone grabs a Bible and we open to a passage. We share and discuss. There is no "teacher," no set curriculum. We simply allow God to guide our discussions and we learn from one another.
During our prayer time at the end of study on Thursday, I realized that I have no idea what these students go through. Sure I went to a public high school, but I was still highly supported by other Christian. For the past three years I have been living inside the Johnson bubble. As much as I hate that label, it is true. I have no idea what it is like to be a Christian student at a state university.
These students amaze me at the strength of their faith and their dependence upon God. They are continually seeking Him and sharing Him through their words and their actions. This weekend was a great example of that. BloomU CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ) set up a tent on one of the lawns on campus and had a period of 24 hour prayer. Here is just one photograph of the prayer tent.
We continually talk about being salt and light. However, it has very little impact to be a light in an area full of light. How much brighter does the light shine in a dark place? So to CRU and Christian students on campuses everywhere, let your light shine. God is working in you and through you in mighty ways.

life happens

So many times I am out doing something or I am sitting at my desk reading something and I find myself thinking, I should blog about that. And then life happens. Life gets in the way of me sharing life with you because I'm sharing life with the people who are right here with me. So while once again, I will say that I want to write more, please understand that if I do not write more, it is because I am out there living life.