(Thank you to Bethany for sharing what she posted on Facebook on January 7, 2024)

Today at church our Pastor said one of the most profound things I may have ever heard from a pulpit.

He told a true story of a young man who was going to church, who hadn’t been in a long time or perhaps ever (I don’t remember) and shared that the young man was wearing a baseball cap as he approached the church building. A man outside asked the young man – twice – to remove his cap before going inside the church. The young man had been severely abused as a child and had a scar going from his temple to the back of his head. He wore a hat to cover it . . . .

Pastor then said this: “If you ever meet that young man, you invite him here. I’ll wear my hat too.”

Doing what I do, knowing what I know, having seen and experienced the things I have, it is my belief that the importance of those two sentences CANNOT be overstated.

People want to be seen. To be heard. To be understood. Believed. To have a voice. It’s so simple, yet, apparently, incredibly difficult.

We want everyone to be well but never need a doctor. We want peace but refuse to speak with one another. We want a lot of things done but only if someone else puts in the work. No one likes messy.

Jesus, however, is a specialist in messy. He said: the healthy don’t need a doctor (Luke5:31-32). Whose wounds are we mending? He said: For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. (Luke 19:10) Found people, find people. Jesus said: Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” (John 8:10b) If Jesus isn’t accusing people, what are WE thinking? Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman – offering concern first for her soul (living water – John 4: 14) rather than her actions. Jesus does the sanctifying, not us. And we know: religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress . . . . One does not become an orphan or widow by choice y’all. And not everyone can do everything – that’s not my point. However, we can all do something.

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. “ Psalm 65:5-6

What a beautiful mess . . . . .