[pastors/prostitutes]

church.

church.

a word with lots of connotations and meanings behind it.

take 15 seconds. what are the first words/images/sounds/smells/thoughts that come to mind?

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time's up.

this is what i imagined.

church basically refers to a building, a congregation, things associated with all that. what images does that conjure up? in the general lexicon of things, it tends to be images of a white-washed building set on a perennially-sunny hill, complete with old-fashioned(anachronistic?) steeple.

i imagine families young and old, wearing their sunday-best(more than just jeans that is), coming out the front doors at noon, talking and laughing, complete with "amazing grace" being plunked out on the organ behind them in postlude. i see children, running around, and mamas scolding them to 'get out of the dust and dirt before you soil your pants!'.

i smell church potlucks and ham-on-bun(for those of you who haven't grown up in dutch west michigan, you are missing out...). i hear the voices of a preacher, droning on through a religious key-note(in truth, the three-point sermon), while children fidget, mothers elbowing them to keep quiet, all while the father dozes in the warm sunlight streaming through the stained-glass windows.

i know church.

i know the traditions, and the language, and the atmosphere. i know that these are the images of church that most people imagine when they think of church.

....right?

i mean, that's what i think of.

....okay, i guess there is some exploitation that goes on....

....and i guess you could convince me that we are a little quick on the judgement....

....fine, i guess you make a point that we don't always practice what we preach....

...and i guess i understand that we could be seen as only caring about bigger and better....

....

....

but come on...we're human too, right?

anyone who knows about advertising knows well enough what to sweep under the rug. we want to present a "good product"! we want you to like us.

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.......

okay. i hear you. i get it. church is wrong. we do it all wrong(can you even "do" church?).

we are hypocrites. we are fake. we are messed up people.

and none of that is an excuse.

its an explanation.

for our failure.

if those terms, "hypocrites", "fake", "messed up" are what came to mind when i said what does "church" mean to you, then i am sorry. but its true. all those terms are true, and we can't change it. try as we might, we will never fully practice what we preach. we will never love like we are supposed to. we will always be messed up.

we prostitue ourselves to the world, and we are proud of it, and then rise from the bed of hypocrisy and lies in order to make it to the 9:30 service.

...a little too harsh? perhaps...but the message of God does tend to offend...

Christians.

WAKE UP.

you who are members of the Church with-a-capital-C (the whole body of believers) are prostituting yourselves to the world. i just said it, we want people to "like us"; "like" the way we do church, to "like us" as on facebook. church is not about getting people to like us.

how many pastors do you know who measure their success on the attendance number, and not on the commitment-to-God number?

how many ministries do you know that need bigger budgets, to fly their speakers around in leer-jets? (i have at least 3 if you need examples)

how many christians do you know who have shamed you, broken you, judged you, and hated you because of your

skin color?

political views?

sexual orientation?

past sins?

is this what makes up "church"?

so yes, when i ask you what comes to mind when i say "church", and these are the things that do, you are right. that is what the church has become. a place for prostitutes of the world.

but isn't that the purpose of church, to serve the prostitutes of the world? to be

friends,

neighbors,

pastors,

counselors,

and

shoulders to cry on?

Christians, you want to serve? good! you should. serve the world... but the best way to do that is to make sure your heart is in the right place first. before you go around judging....

....well you know that bible verse at least....

in His grip,

j