"Jesus really did have strange tastes. He especially liked being around the poor, the marginalized, the forgotten...For Jesus, it was not 'Poor people and other outcasts, find yourself a church'; it was 'Church people, find yourself the poor and the outcasts."
"We are called to be--like Jesus--the friend of sinners. That means building relationships with people who reside outside the orbit of our moral universe. It means becoming their friend and loving them. It means accepting them and their differences and being willing to be enriched by those differences."
I was enriched yet again by the two repeat visitors to the "Spiritual Journey" class at City Rescue Mission. Two homeless men of color. So much separates us, but more unites us. One of them asked me, "So where do you go to church?"
"Uh...well...uh...I attend a Catholic Mass once a week...But I'm actually in church 'detox' right now." He knew all about detox. And he knew exactly what I was talkin' about.
It turns out he's a soon-not-to-be-homeless-anymore (he's getting his own place at the Pershing Center in two days--yeah!!!) person who's as "emergent" as Brian McLaren. He totally gets it. Well, maybe not totally, but darn close.
But like so many others, it feels weird to him to eschew the institution, even though most of the institutional churches this precious brother visits won't give him the time of day. The pained expression on his face told me this is so.
Yet despite this, he still talks in terms of wanting to "go" to church. We talked about the difference between "going" to church and "being" the church. I think it's going to be quite a feat to get people to transition from "going" to "being." But I want him and me to learn how to "be" the church together.
And you know what? I think this just might be starting to happen.
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