A Little More Like Jesus

The company I work for decided at the beginning of the year to make several classes available for us to participate in, sort of a self-improvement kind of thing. The owners hired a professional presenter who travels all over the country helping companies grow their employees in developing skills in the field of communication. This morning, I attended my first class along with 20 or so of my co-workers, and I was captured almost from the moment the woman leading the class began to speak. For a little over four hours, I listened intently as she instructed us on the art of effective communication and led us through various exercises to help us learn to be engaged and responsive listeners. As I walked back to my desk after the class ended, I realized that I had learned two important things from the speaker this morning. 1) I don't just not like confrontation ... I hate it. I hate confrontation so much that I try to avoid it even to the point of allowing others to inflict some pretty significant wounds upon my heart over and over again, and 2) It doesn't take much for communication between two people to break down and for things to take a terribly wrong turn in a relationship.

This evening, I had a lengthy conversation with a woman who was asked to step down from all of her leadership responsibilities at her church, and no, it's not the church I attend; in fact, she doesn't live in Kansas City. Her pastor cited this as his reason for asking her to no longer serve as a leader ... she doesn't tithe to the church. Oh, she tithes ... she probably tithes a higher percentage of her income than the pastor himself, but she tithes to churches that are less fortunate and are struggling to support their ministry, to individuals who are in need, to children who are starving or homeless or abused. The truth is that the pastor's request for her resignation has little to do with the tithing issue that he cited as his reason ... the truth is that he asked her not to lead because she doesn't fit the mold of who the church wants her to be; she knows the real reason ... I know the real reason ... and though he won't admit it, the pastor knows the real reason ... she doesn't fit the mold of the church, not the mold of Jesus, mind you, the mold of the church. Just as the speaker at work said this morning, many times we don't say what we truly mean or feel ... we veil our true feelings, desires and emotions so that we aren't forced to deal with the real truth, especially when that truth involves differing beliefs or interpretations of whatever code we structure our lives upon.

When we finished talking, my heart was so heavy for my friend ... heavy, but angry, too. To hear that this woman ... this woman who has one of the kindest, most compassionate, loving, loyal, generous hearts I know ... to hear that she's been told by the pastor of the church that she can no longer be in leadership breaks my heart and enrages my spirit in a big way. I know that what I'm about to say will make some of you angry ... the church of today has it all wrong, friends ... the church of today is missing it completely. When my friend said, "It seems there's not much of Jesus left in the church anymore," I couldn't help but think about the younger generation who is quick to say, "I love Jesus, but I don't like the church." My friend has the very type of servant heart God calls us to have, but she can no longer lead in the church she has faithfully served for many years ... breaks my heart ... breaks my heart, and something tells me that it breaks the heart of God as well.

I've met a lot of people out on the walking trail ... a whole lot of people. And out of all of my trail buddies I've come to know over the last three years, I can count on one hand the ones who attend church regularly. Some of them used to go to church, but no longer attend; some of them have never attended church; some of them are C&E churchgoers (Christmas and Easter). Some of those folks would be labeled "bad" sinners; some would be called "good" people who don't have a relationship with God; and some would be termed "carnal" Christians who have wandered away from Jesus. And yet ... guess who stopped by my house over the last couple of weeks to check on me because they knew my son and daughter-in-law and granddaughter were leaving for Canada? Guess who brought chicken and broccoli and no sugar added ice cream to me for dinner because they were worried that I wasn't eating because I was too upset? Guess who emailed me every day the week that Matt left and has emailed me every day since? Guess who hugged me and matched my tears with their own? Guess who knocked on my door and asked if I'd like to walk with them? Guess who sent me a card that said, "Call me day or night if you need to talk"? My trail buddies, friends ... my trail buddies did all of those things ... people who would most certainly not fit the mold.

One of my favorite Christian singers is Mandisa, and this morning as I was driving to work, I was struck by the lyrics to her song "What if We Were Real." I'm not going to list the lyrics in this post because they are rather lengthy, but the line "Maybe we'd be a little more like Jesus" if we were real certainly touched my heart. Maybe ... just maybe, that's the kind of people we are called to be ... maybe we should focus on reaching for that goal every day ... maybe we should try to be a little more like Jesus every single day. And for the record, He loved people who didn't fit the mold ... He called 12 of them to be the founders and leaders of His church ... as my Daddy used to say, put that in your pipe and smoke it for a while. And also for the record, I'm pretty sure the verse from Romans means every one of us ... every one of us.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23