The Church

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:18-19

The church my husband and I attend has as its subtitle, “the Church of Second Chances.” We have a set of defining and hopefully motivating values that we go over every week. It’s a lovely little church and the concept is great. The idea of being “the” church of second chances just struck me as odd today. Shouldn’t all Christian churches be places where people are given not only second chances but endless chances? Shouldn’t the tenets of forgiveness, renewal and mercy be a major part of any group that claims Jesus Christ as its leader?

With absolutely no malice toward my own church, a church I do appreciate, I wonder how far we’ve strayed from God’s original idea? When Jesus said to Peter, “on this rock I will build my church”, is what we typically see what he had in mind?

At our little church we have one Sunday morning service. If you don’t like someone there the best you can do is sit on the other side from them. At other churches I’ve attended, I have heard people say that they switched services because they didn’t want to see someone. I’ve been guilty of similar sentiments myself. What are we going to do in Heaven? Can you see that? “Um, excuse me but I need a cloud as far away from him as possible. Oh, but not next to her!” That won’t work.

The Bible is sometimes called Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Those instructions include, turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:39), forgiving not once but repeatedly, (Matthew 18:21-22), loving our enemies (Matthew 5:44), showing mercy (James 2:13b) and carrying each other’s burdens, (Galatians 6:2), to name a few. Micah 6:8 sums it all up for us, “What does the Lord require of you O, man? To do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.” In order to do all that wouldn’t we have to give people more than one chance? Wouldn’t we need more than once chance? I need more than a second chance, quite frankly. I’d hate to know what “chance” I am on.

God doesn’t deal in chances. Again, with no disrespect to my own church, chances are not in God’s programs. God forgives repeatedly, not by chance or whimsy. God is love. We aren’t taking chances with Him. His mercy is a given. In order to be like Him, ours should be as well.

I appreciate my church for saying, in effect, we aren’t here to judge you. We are here to love you. I just wonder why having called ourselves “church” we feel that we have to say that.

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