{"id":729,"date":"2006-02-27T00:47:00","date_gmt":"2006-02-27T06:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/?p=729"},"modified":"2006-02-27T00:47:00","modified_gmt":"2006-02-27T06:47:00","slug":"another-open-letter-to-the-christian-sub-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/another-open-letter-to-the-christian-sub-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Another open letter to the Christian Sub-Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Christian,
\nI hate to write this to you in such a public maner, but you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still<\/A> making a fool of yourself in many public places.
\nYou\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been writing letters to the local paper condemning the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153immoral heathens\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in your community, saying you would be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153floored\u00e2\u20ac\u009d if they had the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153audacity to show up in a church.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s surprising you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a bouncer waiting at the door to expell the sinners amongst you.
\nJust like Simon wanted to expell the woman from his house in Luke 7, you seem to hope the sin drenched people of the world avoid your church entirely.
\nYet even as Simon squirmed in his seat, knowing that a known sinner was in his house, Jesus assured Simon, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He that is forgiven much, loves much.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nJesus spent time accepting the sinner, not casting them out.
\nThe writers of Radical Hospitality write, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Acceptance. Now there’s a word loaded with meaning. We tend to confuse it with tolerance or even approval. But acceptance is about receiving, rather than judging. The father, who will not visit his son because his son is living unmarried with a woman, or even another man, might say he doesn’t want to condone his son’s choices. We feel for him, but we know it’s a cover-up because we, too, have rationalized our avoidance of things and situations we would rather not have to face. Then we hide the dissapointment, cover the anger, and justify the rejection. We struggle in our best efforts to hold back judgement and just accept. Acceptance is not about condoning; it is about embracing. When we accept, we take an open stance to the other person. It is more than pios tolerating them. We stand in the same space and appreciate who they are, right at this moment, and affirm the Sacred in them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nI know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to judge.
\nI know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to throw stones.
\nAnd I know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not welcome here\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when a person makes you uncomfortable.
\nBut keep in mind, the people you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re rejecting are the same people who need Christ the most.
\nMaybe we can take some lessons for the few who seem to be on the right track.
\nLast year, a church that was robbed posted the following message on their marquee, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153To the person who broke in – God loves you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nThe United Church of Christ made headlines in 2004 when their TV commercial featuring a bouncer at the gates of a church and a voice-over saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was rejected national TV networks.
\nA friend recently told me about a church who had gladly welcomed an athiest into their fellowship. Members of the church invited her to visit and she was overcome by the friendliness and attitude she saw.
\nShe wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t judged or condemmed because she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe, she was accepted as another lost soul. She didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe what they believed, she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit the Christian mold, but she was welcomed into the fellowship.
\nAfter several visits she asked the pastor to allow her to work in the nursery, simply because she wanted to be a part of the loving group.
\nThe Apostle Thomas struggled with his faith after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
\nAll of the other disciples had seen the risen Lord, yet Thomas had not and doubted their accounts.
\nBut scripture tells us, the disciples allowed Thomas to continue his fellowship with them.
\nHe simply hung out with them for eight days before Christ personally came to him.
\nWhat if Thomas or an Athiest came to your church?
\nWould they feel the love of Christ abounding? Or would she feel like an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153immoral heathen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for not believing the message of a risen Savior?
\nAnd what if despite their doubt, their curiosity made them stay? Would they be welcomed or told they must conform or leave?
\nSamuel Escobar with The New Global Mission writes, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The church exists for mission, and \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 a church that is only inward looking is not truly the church.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nI write all of this to say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to wake up.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to start being known for your love, not how pro-prayer, pro-life or pro-Jesus you are.
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to stoop down and reach out to those hurting and starving around you.
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to check your attitude and maintain an attitude as that of Christ.
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to be a relevant example of Christ — 24-7 and stop judging the sinners around you.
\nBecause if I were \u00e2\u20ac\u0153one of them,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have given up and ignored you and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153your Savior\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a long time ago.
\n– Signed
\nChristian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Christian, I hate to write this to you in such a public maner, but you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still making a fool of yourself in many public places. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been writing letters to the local paper condemning the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153immoral heathens\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in your community, saying you would be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153floored\u00e2\u20ac\u009d if they had the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153audacity to show up in … Continue reading Another open letter to the Christian Sub-Culture<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-bL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}