self-portraits

the other day someone found out that my church has homosexuals in attendance, and she asked if my church had "one of those church programs where they try to turn gay people straight"? at first i laughed because i thought it was such a ridiculous idea - but then when i revisited the interaction later, i realized how sad it really was. what a poor reflection of church-going folk. but maybe an accurate self-portrait. eesh.

sometimes i feel like in the way of us being the body of Jesus - we 100% miss the mark. all the different parts, working together in this beautiful movement of love and purpose. intentionally giving food, time, and life to people who know God or don't. and then sometimes i feel like we nail it. i've gotta tell you - i'm doing life with people who nail it. feeding the poor in non-dramatic ways. playing basketball. doing art. talking. adding an extra minute or two to each grocery trip.

i get a rash thinking about someone wrestling with the idea of coming to one of our meetings (http://trinitygracechurch.com/heights/) because they feel they would be judged, but at the same time - understand so well that christians get all jumbled together in the context of pain. kind of how girls usually hate guys for a while after they get dumped. even though i don't totally understand that idea.

basically everything would be solved if we would own scripture. like the verse in romans that says, "let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't. if you preach, just preach God's message, nothing else." (12:6)

we may not preach from a pulpit, but when we ignore the needs of others or make sure to shake our head no at the slow poke in front of you on the stares that made you miss the train, we're preaching something we don't want to. or that we shouldn't want to.

whatchya preachin', ya'll?