We’ve all heard the phrase “you’re preaching to the chior.” It’s generally used to say “tell me something I don’t already know” but have you ever stopped to consider it in a more literal sense. I have because I’ve long felt that many, if not most, churches fall far short in one rather important area; reaching the non-believer. It varies in degree to be certain, but in my experience more miss the mark than hit it. We tend to focus more and more inward until we have a closed society. This is especially true in the larger churches I’ve seen. Though it has long been a pet peeve of mine, what got me started thinking about it this particular time is something that happened to me this morning.

My son attends pre-school at a rather large church in my area and the kids were doing a Christmas program this morning. Because I needed to go straight to work after the program my wife and I drove separately. I had to stop on the way and drop something off at my middle daughter’s school so I got there a little while after her. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten to ask her where at the church it was specifically. As I said, it is a rather large church so the facility is huge. It consists of 5 or 6 different buildings (none small), all connected to each other. The problem is that they’ve held these programs in the past in the sanctuary, in the chapel and in the children’s building and I hadn’t a clue which it would be in. To make matters worse I couldn’t get Christy on the phone to ask her. And worse yet, it was raining buckets. So I hedged my bets and headed for the chapel. Since it and the sanctuary are adjacent to each other I figured I would increase my odds. Besides, there were some cars parked around that entrance and people walking in.

Well, I got to the chapel and the doors were locked so I headed for the sanctuary doors. An older lady was walking that way and stopped me to ask where I was going. I explained my situation and she informed me that they, meaning whatever group she was with, were having a bible study in the sanctuary. Assuming she was just telling me that it wasn’t in the sanctuary, I thanked her and headed toward the doors. She again stopped me and asked where I was going. I told her that it must be in the children’s building so I was going there. She pointed back toward the parking lot and explained to me that I could drive around to the other side of the building to get there. Given that it was pouring and I was parked perhaps 100 yards from the door (and I didn’t have an umbrella) I gestured toward the rain and told her I knew where it was, but thought I would go through the sanctuary and walk to it indoors. Her response? You can’t, we’re having a bible study in the sanctuary.

Now, there had been a steady stream of people heading in past us so they clearly hadn’t started yet and, even if they had, the sanctuary is positively huge and someone could easily go through there without coming within 50 yards of them. My first impulse was to ask her why she was bothering to go to a bible study if that was her attitude. My second was to suggest that, instead of swapping bread recipes and socializing, perhaps they could, you know, study the bible. It has some things to say she might wanna read. My third, and the one I went with, was to walk back out in the rain getting further soaked and driving around to the children’s building.

My big problem was that, aside from the fact that her attitude (and her demeanor) was extremely rude, it was inexcusable given the location in my opinion. She has no way of knowing rather I knew God or not; many non-believers send their kids there because they happen to have an excellent program. All she knew was that I was a father trying to get in to see my kids Christmas program, that I was parked a long ways out and that it was raining buckets. And her chosen response was to tell me in so many words that she could care less how wet I got, I was not going to cross her turf to get there. Why? Because they were having a bible study there.

Now, I’m not picking on this church. We’ve had kids in the progam there for 5 years now and have met many of their members, a few of which we consider close friends. From my perspective this wasn’t a church issue, it was one with this particular lady, but stop and consider for a moment what that would look like from a prospective non-believer’s point of view. Do you think they would have walked away thinking “that lady was a jerk” (as I did) or “those *#&%(* Christians are all alike”?

I can’t speak for you, but I’ve already registered my vote. I am a firm believer that if we let our beliefs be know publicly we are de facto representatives of the church. If we don’t let them be known… well, I’ll let you reach your own conclusions about that. But when we are standing in front of a church professing to be heading to a bible study there we are absolutely, without doubt putting ourselves out there as representatives of that church and, by extension, God. Is sending people out into the rain for no reason really the message we should be sending?

But, you know, what bothers me more is that she isn’t an isolated case. As I said before, it varies by degree, but that basic attitude has been institutionalized by so much of the body of Christ. We’ve become so insular and so intolerant that we’ve lost our way. I was a clean-cut guy in a shirt and tie, and many if not most of the others there would not have turned me away at the door as she did, but what if I were dressed in shorts and a tee shirt? What if I had long hair? What if I had a few piercings? What if I had tattos covering large parts of my body? What if I had an obviously effiminant nature? My bet is that the number of people who would have turned me away would increase dramatically with each of those.

Who are we to judge anyone, yet we do, and no one does so more visibly or more harshly than the believer in my experience. If someone listens to a style of music they don’t approve of (and God forbid it isn’t ‘Christian music’, if you’ll pardon the pun) or has tattos or piercings or has a lifestyle they don’t approve of - in short, if you don’t look and act like them - then you are automatically shuned.

The book of Mark (2:15-16) talks about Jesus associating with sinners. The Pharisees critized him for doing so and he replied that (paraphrasing) sick people are the ones who need a doctor and that he came to reach not those who thought themselves righteous, but those who knew they were sinners. Well, I feel a little silly pointing this out, but the world we live in is plenty sick. And I’m not saying all people who have tattos or piercings or whatnot are sick, mind you. Though it isn’t my bag, to each his own in that regard. I’ve not found the scripture yet that says thou shalt not tatto or poke holes in thyself. What I’m saying is that the people like I met this morning clearly think they are and their reaction is to close ranks rather than opening arms.

Besides, I happen to think that we should all be very careful about judging others as ‘sinners’. That is a slippery slope, my friend, ’cause guess what? We are all sinners, we’re just arguing degrees now. Don’t take my word for it, look it up. In Romans alone you’ll find “For all have sinned and fall short…” and “there is none righteous, no, not one.” Is your sin somehow better than theirs? Was there an exception that I missed to the whole wages of sin thing? And don’t even get me started on the ‘well, their sin is intentional’ argument. Can you honestly tell me you’ve not sinned intentionally? Can you even tell me that there are no ongoing things you do that you know to be sin? Speeding comes to mind as a common example, but I suspect many of us have those that are worse. I know I do. If you still have Romans there in front of you, you might wanna check out chapter 13. It tells us to obey the law. See, we are good at rationalizing those things away as ‘not hurting anyone’ or ‘only a little thing’ but I read through those passages real careful like and I couldn’t find exceptions for not hurting anyone or only little things. And still, we avoid ‘sinners’ as if they were plague ridden. I can still recall my parents, thinking they were doing the right thing, refusing to let me hang out with non-believers. I understand their motivation; they didn’t want me exposed to bad influences. But, in doing so, they made sure those potential friends weren’t exposed to good influences either. What message do you think that sends to both your kids and the kids they shun?

I think the way we live our lives is far more of an outreach than knocking on doors or handing out tracts. Not that those things are bad, just that I’ve met too many people who do those things on the weekend then forget all about God for the rest of the week. Those of you reading this who know me and are dialing my number to point out things I’ve done that make me a big ole’ hypocrite, put your phone down. You aren’t going to tell me anything I don’t know. I am certainly not holding myself up as a shining example. In fact, I can recall so many times where I’ve failed the test that I try not to think about it. A prime example is from several years back when I was taking flight lessons. My instructor, Matt, and I became good friends. I was going to church and was around Matt for several hours a week, often in an airplane where it was just the two of us killing time and chatting. He’d had some bad experiences earlier in life and was mildly hostile toward any religion so I didn’t once bring up God. Not once. Not that I denied anything, I just didn’t mention Him, or church at all for that matter. During that same time, unbeknownst to me, there was another student who was talking to him about God. One day, out of the blue (pardon the pun), Matt mentions having gone to church that weekend. I was suprised and asked him about it and he told me about this other student talking to him and how he’d accepted Christ. He was witnessing to me. I was honestly so ashamed at that moment that I didn’t say anything until much later. It was not a high point in my walk, but I like to think I’ve learned from it. So, yeah, tell me something I don’t already know.

But beyond being a living example, what good is living our lives right if we only do it around each other? In terms of reaching others, I mean? Most of the church people I know wouldn’t be caught dead in a bar, for example. But, why? Jesus went into some seedy places; why are we any better? I’m not saying to go in and do jello shots with everyone, but would being there and talking to the locals be so bad? One of the nicest guys I know goes to a local bar every Thursday night to play trivia. He has made many friends there and a couple have even begun attending church with him.

While contemplating this post today I happened to hear “Killing in the Name”* by Rage Against the Machine on the radio. The song is open to some interpretation, but not by much. It is widely accepted to be commentary on how those in power, those who should know better, are often the ones commiting the worst attrocities or looking the other way while others do. Such was the case with the KKK and the song doesn’t miss that point (“Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses.” and “You justify those that died by wearing the badge, you’re the chosen whites”). That particular stain on our history did most of what they did claiming God’s will as their motivation, and they are hardly the only ones in history to have done so. Everyone from ‘new age’ spiritualists to palm readers use common religious symbology and assume just enough of the language to be confusing. How are the masses going to decipher what the truth is if we aren’t out there among them? Who, exactly, are we supposed to be reaching inside the four walls of the church. Just my two cents. Keep the change.

I was mad this morning. Really mad. I had that woman all sized up and judged. Then I realized what a complete hypocrite I was. Mark that off my to-do list. Big ole’ hypocrite… check! Look, I don’t know why she is like she is or why she did what she did, but I can honestly say I’m no longer mad at her in the least; me, I’m still a little mad at. My reaction was no better than her action if you look under the covers. I was going to say that she and people like her should be thankful that God is more merciful than she is. Let me revise that to say that we all should. Most of all me.

/g

* Caution: I’ve always liked that song a lot. If you are in the mood for something with a little edge, it would be a good one. The problem is this: I didn’t know it, but the version I always knew was the radio edit. When I looked it up online to link to it here I discovered the album version is a bit different. It is good until the last refrain where it goes decidedly off the deep end language-wise so I’ve decided not to link to it. If you choose to seek it out yourself, you’ve been warned. At least close it before the last minute or so…