Conviction

I just finished reading a book titled Under The Overpass. The author is a young 20-something man who left his upper middle class life to live among the homeless. He grew up in a Christian home and was attending a Christian college when he heard a sermon about living what you believe. He felt convicted by God to put his faith to the test and give everything up. His journey is sad and scary and life-altering. One of the most difficult parts of his experience was the poor way he was treated by Church-going people. Very, very few Christians were willing to welcome him and his traveling companion into their places of worship. They were allowed inside the building, they were just given a very wide berth while they were there. As I was reading it, I kept seeing the face of a man that visited our church a few Sundays ago. He was alone and unkempt, standing in the foyer after church surrounded by the people leaving the sanctuary but he was all alone. He looked lost and confused but was trying to smile and looked as though he just needed someone to say hello. I don't know for sure if he was homeless and I don't think anyone was intentionally ignoring him. In fact, I think our church does a pretty good job of helping those who are in need, but I know that I wondered about him and didn't make an ounce of effort to approach him. His face haunted me as I read this book. And today I ran across a blog written by someone who works in a homeless shelter. It's a good read: http://mission.squarespace.com/-journal I can't help but wonder if God's trying to tell me something. . .This is a quote from the blog just to whet your appetite:
"I'm looking for something else in a church. I'm looking for a place where a community of believers can grapple with scripture, can wrestle with what it means to be a Christ-follower in this sin-wracked, broken world of ours. I'm looking for a place where it's all right to doubt, to worry, to fear, to celebrate, to dance and to sing - or not sing; where prayer is what we do, and not what we listen to someone else doing, where art is shared, where contemplation is possible, where worship is lived, where healing happens. I guess I'm really looking for a place where all the odd people like me who don't fit anywhere else can be welcome and loved - which has to be said because wanting what I described.... well, that pretty much guarantees your dissatisfaction with The Program Driven Church (tm); it pretty much guarantees you'll be the odd one out Sunday morning."