what is gospel ?? illustrating Jesusness in the Body

it was a good day
we met in the Circle

the preacher was discussing the change-movement occurring in christianity and church, and the pertinent question - how are we as a church getting along in the community, and are we doing it ' right ' .. the very necessary discussion and education about churchness and where we fall ( globally as well as locally )  and how we can recover, if necessary, or do better, as we move into the future ..

sometimes we hide away in our ' sanctuaries ' ..
we forget that we are called to serve humanity, our neighbours, as we cluster, boost our clique and try to feel safe and cuddled and fist-bump our way through the next week till we all meet in our ' sanctuary ' place next sunday .. . .. .
discussion of the broader picture and the view from above is crucial to following Jesus' command to love our neighbour as our self

recently there have been encouraging signs in our neighbourhood, a place that has been generally aggressively against our work with our homeless friends ..
slowly, almost unnoticed, positive things are happening

.. . . .        .

then
right there in the ' sanctuary ' someone challenged the obvious message of the moment ..
that message was couched in this scripture, in part .. this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1)

the entirety of that thought is couched in apostle paul's prayer for the Philippian community that their love may abound, grow large ..
right there, with that as a backdrop, our fellow-christian began to castigate us for our impurity, our willingness to blink at sin, and encourage it even, by not being harsher with the homeless who come to the Circle, some under the influence of this or that, parents alarmed for the influence on their children ..
those sinners needed to be judged, in effect .. they needed to be not there, chased off ..
and on and on they went, speaking 3 or 4 times during the discussion, driving the point that we were not reflecting the ' holiness ' of God, delinquent in marking sin ..

this same person had 3 weeks ago personally lodged their complaint about a drunken homeless person that was causing some disruption outside the sanctuary
  [ that story here: http://denyingme.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-is-gospel-again.html ]

my heart sank as they pushed their pointofview ..
headinhands, i refused to believe this was happening
it was like preacher-bashing and church-bashing and homeless-basing all rolled into one hot fireball, a veritable holier-than-thou attack on the principles the Circle has inculcated, principles that speak to humanness, and the equality of all, regardless .. that speak to inclusion, healing, helping ..
being Jesus  ..
like one of the sayings we use .. ' we are all broken people; and we all know that we are all broken people '

      aside .. last week i saw an elder place their hands on an inebriated homeless person
      and pray God's blessing on them in beautiful speak while the undertheinfluence
      cried and hugged them .. that's who we are

i became angry, my blood heating under the pressure of the fire vomiting from the mouth of our fellow 'christian'
i thought, how can we be missing the point like this, right in the context of apostle paul's words of love, words that later in the same reading speak to preaching the gospel under envy and strife .. .. ? ?
did this person hear any of that at all ?
do they care ?

do they care  ?  ?

do we  ?

at one point another person, perhaps emboldened by the tirade, posited that we should be ' bringing ' in the homeless people who were lounging on the lawn outside on that beautiful-weather day, as if they were cattle to be herded into the sanctuary ..
   perhaps the thought behind that was ' if they're coming here to eat, they need to be
   made to attend church first .. kinda like a condition for them getting food .. .      .
and the only response was a cry from a homeless person ' we are here ', or similar, and everyone turned to see several of them in the back pews .. clapping erupted at that

my hands began to shake as the aggressor continued to speak their mind and basically castigate the gathering for not upholding God's laws, drawing lines and meting out punishment to offenders ..
i feared that if i opened my mouth i would end up with my shoe in my stomach ..

thank God for the defensive and positive comments by several other church people, some who were homeless themselves, and one of the church leaders

the preacher wisely allowed the conversation to run a while .. wise, that

finally i spoke up .. my voice quivered with emotion
i said little
but i stood with my homeless friends ..
i made a determination long ago to represent the homeless fairly in whatever circumstance

and then we moved on, and, as we began to sing, an angel appeared at my side, stood right next to me ..
my heart gladdend, and i hugged the very same homeless person the accuser had complained about 3 weeks ago ..
he was back ! with us
God spoke yesterday when he brought them back there .. right in the middle of the Pharissee-attack, right then !
it was heaven making a point ..
and my soul flew heavenward as i walked with my homeless friend into the circle where we joined hands and shared our concerns and requests and appreciation ..
it was an ecstatic moment for me
God himself gently, and almost unnoticed, sanctioned our place as a church in our community

what a day
what a statement
what a God

....

endnote

while we can shield our children from the brokenness of our world, pretending it doesn't exist for fear they will be influenced to do drugs or alcohol or whatever .. might it not be opportunities for educating them as to what the world really looks like ? sharing the dreadnees as well as the goodness, and encouraging them to live appropriate lives  ?

if the pastor had cutoff the conversation, silencing the Accuser .. we, as a church, might not have had the opportunity to defend our positioning, to speak to our calling and our passion, to defend the downandout
another teaching opportunnity

this passage from Isaiah speaks to the moment
we so often diss the older testament, while apotle paul quotes it at length as a teaching device
“ Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
' Why have we fasted,’ they say,‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter, when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: ' Here am I. ' “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

that same drunken homeless angelperson showed up at another community meeting later that day; one of the things they told me privately was they're ill, bleeding, in pain, need to get medical help .. they said the only way they can deaden the pains somewhat to sleep is to drink a fifth of alcohol every night ... .

who on earth am I to judge that ? or you  ?  or the parading ' christian ' that ranted in church   ?

 ..    .     . .  .     .

i saw him a few hours ago
he said to me, ' only God's love is perfect, and i'm not God; the only thing i can do is to try to love and help everyone i meet ' ..
how do you top that ? ?
   you don't

....

epilogue

whenever i judge, i am judged
and in the futurelife i will be judged at the same standard to which i judged
think about that .. the harsher i am, the harsher i myself will be judged .. i set the limits of my own judgement

.. ..  .  . . .       .