This all kind of just hit me. What kind of Christians are we?
There is this family in my church. And honestly, I can say that no one… in my church likes them. It’s really quite sad when you think of it. I mean they are different. Not the norm, especially compared to what our church is used to. But do they really deserve to be shunned and thought down upon? Hm…
This family, they want to be integrated, they want to be like us all. But we all know this is not going to happen. They are a family who by far are not normal with many different problems. The mom and one son want to sing in choir. We let them, but I can tell no one is particularly happy about it (me including because the mom stands next to me and makes it difficult for me to sing). I know when we sang today during service, that people were staring them down. Questioning. Criticizing. Mocking.
The dad, I don’t talk to him much. But he sits faithfully in church not so much distracted by others around him like the rest of his family is.
The other son, he is the main issue right now in the church. As I told my friend today, “the adults are on high alert with their kids around him.” And it’s the truth. I could see it with the way people were acting-- that they were watching the kids, especially the girls very closely especially when we was around. I mean I totally understand the need for this. He scares the life out of me. Today after service as I was leaving someone stopped me and asked me if I noticed him following me (‘oh great’ was my thought). My response to her was that I am oblivious to his presence so I do not really acknowledge him around. And the person said “I think we all feel like that right now.”
Really? I mean I know he is not the kind of person that we all want to be around. I feel it. But as a church, as a body of Christ, are we really supposed to be this way? Are we really supposed to avoid him, to ignore him, to act like he doesn’t even exist? This is not how Christ intended for his followers to act. I can assure you that.
I don’t even know what to say. I don’t really know how to fix the problem. I mean there are more underlying causes I suppose, but I know God is not smiling down on our church. On the way we think, the way we look, the way we act (or lack there-of) towards this family. It’s not fair.
We are all God’s children no matter our lives, our past, or our current situation.
Amen to that.
ReplyDeleteIf they are just different, weird, because of their lifestyles or social inadequacies, then it is sad that the church is shunning them when it should be the church enveloping them with love and accepting them for all their weirdness. God can take care of the rest.
If the people have good reason to be careful around this one young man, that is a different ball park but if they are just doing it because he is different then that's hard. Because God calls us to love our neighbors as ourself.
Anyway, we lead by example.
There is no sin in the world that is bigger than God's love. If he can love all his children then so should we. I don't always go by this because I find myself judging people all the time and most of the time I don't even realize it.
ReplyDeleteI pray that God will show you how you can reach this family and that your church will have open hearts to them.