Wounded By The Church

Henri Nouwen:

When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it.  But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ.  When we say, "I love Jesus, but I hate the Church," we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too.  The challenge is to forgive the Church.

 This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially.  But the Church as an often fallible human organization needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness.

It is important to think about the Church not as "over there" but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer .

In his latest book, Adventures in Churchland, Dan Kimball says:

There are no guarantees that people won't fail us again.  Be we must remember, in humility, that the mess we see in church is because of people like me and you, imperfect people who make mistakes.

 I am finishing up his book and am impressed with it.  I do not write many book reviews but I am glad I am finishing this thought provoking work.  I say thought provoking, because I often wonder why people drift away from church or why they leave it.  The church is a messy place filled with messy people trying to honor a holy God.

I guess it all comes down to the fact that as we get closer to an all-loving Savior, we also have to get close to the church body.  That means we have to become vulnerable.  Loving others puts us in a place where we decide to be open to hurt, disappointment, and more.  It also puts us in a place to see the imperfect that desires the perfection of Christ.   Seriously, try to love without being open to heart break.  Jesus does it everyday.

 Are you ready to love like Jesus?  Let me know your thoughts...