31 Days of 5 Minute Free Writes 2016 - 19: "Notice"

GO!  

Did you notice her?  The girl with the sorted past who's scared to death, pale and shaking in the back row of the church.

Will they judge me?  Will they call me out and make me tell every bad thing I've done.  I've got to get out of here!  Run! Run!

And yet she stays, fixated by the words of love and wisdom coming from the songs and preaching.

Did you notice him?  A black man in his 20's tired of the peer pressure to go along with the violence of the gang he hangs around with, but too proud to say he needs help.  He's got his arms folded, a look of utter disdain across his face.  He sits in the front row just daring someone to say something he doesn't like.

I don't need this God business!  What I need is a hit and some time with my lady.

Yet tears flow over his scarred cheeks as he longs for the love of God the Father to fill the empty space left by an earthly father he never knew.

Did you notice them?

I've noticed a lot of garbage said about the church in general lately.  No, not by those outside the church--we expect that--but from those who claim to be followers of Christ.  There's a whole "Christian" podcast dedicated to gleefully tell us everything that's wrong with the church. 

STOP!


...and I must continue...

I'm sure there's more than the one, but one was all I could stomach.

Sure, there are things wrong with the church; there's human beings involved.  However, let me ask you something:  If you are married, would you like to publicly blast your spouse by nitpicking everything that is wrong with him/her in front of thousands?  Would that bring you joy?  If you are worth your salt and you care anything for your marriage, the answer is a definite no.  Then why, oh why, do we find it necessary to do the same to the Bride of Christ?

Why is this important? If we spend so much time nitpicking the church, we don't have time to BE the church and NOTICE hurting, scared people.  The tide is shifting, there are more and more noticers of the pain of others and the goodness of the God who heals that pain by using the hands and feet of His church.

Let's look for that.

Let's notice that.