Forgive us, Lord,
When we corrupt your churches
When instead of worshipping you in the way you instructed us,
By welcoming in the hungry, the homeless, the poor, the friendless, the foreigner, and people with disabilities,
Instead we seek to keep them out.
When we seek instead to make your church
A more exclusive private club
Attracting an ever-more elite clientele
Surrounding ourselves with luxury
And our own fear and hatred
While your people suffer
Outside our walls and gates,
Perhaps occasionally tossing crumbs
To assuage our guilt
As we feast.
We have failed to do what is pleasing in your sight.
We cannot plead, "safety!"
(Though we too often do)
Because you have sent us plenty
Of prophets and apostles
To this day.
Faithful disciple churches
Who have found the ways
To minister to the least of these
With safety and welcome for all.
Lord, help us to listen
to you, and the teachers you have sent us.
Instead of turning our churches
Into dens of thieves,
Turn our hearts
To worship you once more
By welcoming your Beloved People.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Some Folks
Some folks spend every Sunday in the pew, but have never been to church.
Some folks serve on every board in their congregation, but have never been to church.
Some folks have spent a fortune gussying up their sanctuaries, but have never been to church.
Church is a matter of heart--not a matter of status, of image, of power, of wealth.
We have been to church when our hearts have been so transformed that our highest priority becomes not the building, not the boards, but the willingness to welcome in and tend to the poor, the homeless, the hungry, the outcast, the foreigner, and the broken ones.
Not to throw a few nickels their way when we see fit, after we've spent tens of thousands on a more beautiful building for ourselves first.
Not to keep them confined to a social agency downtown because our houses of worship are 'too nice' to risk allowing them in.
When we can be bodily present alongside those we fear and despise the most in our society,
and become friends and neighbors,
When our houses of worship are houses for everyone
and tables for everyone
until everyone is fed, and sheltered, and loved,
Then, we begin to see as God sees.
For God, all the rest doesn't begin to matter.
Some folks serve on every board in their congregation, but have never been to church.
Some folks have spent a fortune gussying up their sanctuaries, but have never been to church.
Church is a matter of heart--not a matter of status, of image, of power, of wealth.
We have been to church when our hearts have been so transformed that our highest priority becomes not the building, not the boards, but the willingness to welcome in and tend to the poor, the homeless, the hungry, the outcast, the foreigner, and the broken ones.
Not to throw a few nickels their way when we see fit, after we've spent tens of thousands on a more beautiful building for ourselves first.
Not to keep them confined to a social agency downtown because our houses of worship are 'too nice' to risk allowing them in.
When we can be bodily present alongside those we fear and despise the most in our society,
and become friends and neighbors,
When our houses of worship are houses for everyone
and tables for everyone
until everyone is fed, and sheltered, and loved,
Then, we begin to see as God sees.
For God, all the rest doesn't begin to matter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)