Messy

I was thinking today how wonderful it is to be in a messy church rather than in a tighty whitey church where everyone is acting like they are perfect. I attended those kinds of churches when I was younger.

I appreciate our authentic honest culture (and many churches are like this). It’s very freeing. It’s where TRUE FREEDOM happens. “The truth will set you free” … so you can never be FREE when you are hiding or acting like something you are not and lying about who you really are … it’s the truth that frees us! The truth is that we are ALL broken and sinful. And acting like you are not is SINFUL in itself.

There was this one person who was perfect, his name is Jesus … and what is cool about Him and His ministry is that it was MESSY! And the uptight-acting-like-they-are-better-than-everyone-else-religious-pharisees hated Jesus because of it! I love it!

When I say “our church is messy” I mean that our church has real people with real issues in it … and they don’t (some do) hide it. They are who they are! There aren’t many churches where you can be who you are while on your journey of faith. Most churches are attempting to fit you in their little box … their little view of what they think a Christian looks like.

I just got a call today from a couple who want me to perform their wedding because their pastor won’t because they have been married before. That’s ridiculous and is nothing like the Jesus of the Bible. That is some whacked-out form of religion that turns people away from the love of God.

I will end with this story; a woman in our church told me she attended a “membership class” at another church where they asked if you smoked, and she was honest and said “yes”. And because she smoked she was denied membership. How nutty is that! It makes me want to spit! And this wasn’t like something that happened in the 80’s … this was just a few months ago and here in Olathe! Wow!

I could rant and rave here for hours… I will end with this; Jesus said “come unto me ALL ye …” that is you, me, the drug addict, the prostitute, the stripper, the homosexual, the adulterer, the fornicator, the liar, the cheater, the greedy, the lazy, and the religious nut!