For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10
She walks into church, right down to the front row, and sits down. She is different. Her dress looks like one of those baby doll tops--the ones you're supposed to wear with leggings. She has earrings in places other than her ears. Her hair is a rather odd color of green. From what you can see, beyond the tattoo's, her skin is pale, almost translucent. What do you do? Ignore her? Go out of your way to be overly friendly to her? Sneer at her?
Better question, what would Jesus do? From reading the Gospels, I can pretty much guarantee He'd go right down, put His arm around her, say 'Welcome', and sit down. This was His kind of girl. She is most likely hurting, lost, searching...for something only He can give her. Since He's not here (in bodily form anyway), it's our place to go to her, put an arm around, Welcome, and sit down. This would make me uncomfortable. I'm not used to folks that look 'different'. I live in the South, we pretty much all look the same.
God didn't call us to be comfortable, He called us to reach out even in our unease. Next time you have a visitor at church, one who doesn't look 'just right' or fit the church mold, try going out of your way to speak to them. Make conversation. Be interested. It's not all about us, you know.
PS- thanks for the prayers, I think I've made it back among the living ;)
4 comments:
Allison! I've missed you this week :) Sorry to hear you haven't been feeling well... me too :( Had to get some antibiotics yesterday and just today I'm feeling a little better.
This is such a relevant topic and I think it's huge when someone like this makes a decision to come into our churches which are filled with people that all look alike! We need to embrace others and be His hands and feet! Great post!
I'm happy to say that our church is filled with tattoo wearing people. :) But you're right, Allison, this is the kind of girl Jesus would embrace. We need to understand that almost everyone who walks through the doors of our church is hurting and looking for love - whether they look like it or not. Great post!
Great post Allison. When we started this new church, this is a topic we discussed a lot. We are to be the hands and feet of Christ. That means embracing those that are 'different.' We all need Christ. Whether we are clean cut and classy or not so much.
Amen Allison! Far too often our "judgment monster" comes out, and we fail in reaching out to others in love as Jesus desires us to do. If we're truly to be the Body of Christ, we need to see past those self-imposed divisions, and welcome them in!
Have a Blessed Day!
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