The Beauty of Welcome

We just started a series called The Proof is in the Church, Recovering the Lost Tools of Love. Here is why - we really don’t know how to love like Jesus loves. Oh, we know how to love according to Pop Culture, but Jesus’ kind of love is bound up in sacrifice and service. I think we like the idea of love, we like to hear stories of love, we just don’t want God to ask us to do much of the sacrifice and service part! Is that not okay? Is it really that big a deal? Yes, because Jesus said that as the world sees the love people in his body have for each other they will know Jesus is real. How are we doing on that one?Not so good if we can believe the perceptions of people outside the church. Even 20 years ago, when people outside the church were surveyed, they talked about the church in a positive light - they brought healthy morals to the culture, they were first to help in times of crisis and disaster, and quick to take in strays. Now the findings by the Barna Research Group and others tell a different story. Now the church is perceived by those on the outside as "hostile to the culture," "not willing to listen," "not interested in broken people," and most disturbing is there is a perception that the church is an evil influence on the culture and many are straight up scared of the church!How can this be? Jesus was so gentle, "a bruised reed he wouldn’t break." Jesus was so accepting of morally bankrupt people - he welcomed them. Jesus always had time to listen and he ran to the kinds of people both the culture and the religious crowd ignored. The only groups who were scared of Jesus were the political structure and organized religion! The man on the street wasn’t. The broken people weren’t. Why? Well, come Sunday and we will take about it as we talk about how beautiful it is to see the grace of true welcome to people we don’t know, or to those who are different or indifferent to us. Hope to see you Sunday.Blessings,Jim