"Church is not a gallery for the self-righteous. it is a shelter for the tired, weak, and impoverished. The outcasts and outsiders." ""It is for those who have examined the darkest corners of their imperfect lives. For those who seek peace, truth, and the greatest of all,.. GOD'S LOVE!!!!!!!!!! "
The other day I was listening to the Christian Station, Life 100.3,
The dj in the morning read a 'tweet'.
(I don't use Twitter, and don't really care for it but this one caught my attention)
Michael W Smith, Christian singer, songwriter 'tweeted' the above quote.
Now I listened to MWS when I was young and loved his music.
He had great lyrics and fun songs.
He is now not anywhere near the top of my music interests but he was a huge impact on introducing me to Christians in music.
I honestly still can't believe that he is out there singing and touring, but why not?
he has a great voice, a hoarde of followers and solid truths to sing about.
just because I don't listen to him anymore does not mean that he needed to retire - there would be a lot of artists retired if it was all up to who I listened to or not....
and it would be a little self-centered of me to think that i was really that important!
anyway, what I was really coming here to write about was his 'tweet'.
is the church a shelter? somewhere for the tired, outcasts, imperfect?
well i would have to agree with MWS.
it should be.
unfortunately for many who have hurt, are hurting, or fall into any of the categories mentioned above, the church has failed.
and I don't know how to change that.
i can make sure i can do my part. let's not keep church as the social club it has become.
does anyone else agree? disagree?
MWS, thank you for all you do. and thank you for your words of inspiration.
i agree that church has become a bit of a social club. when i think of the kinds of people that Jesus was spending his time with while on earth, i realize that those are the ones that we would have a hard time finding in our church building. sad.
ReplyDeletei don't know either how to change that...but i do know that each of us is the 'church" and so it really has to start with us as individuals. we are the ones that God wants to use to shelter and love the tired, the weak ,poor, and lonely. jesus is all about relationship, not programs and clubs. i think he could care less about what my church building looks like and if we have good programs/outreaches/events going on. His concern is that we love Him and show him that love by loving eachother.