Pilgrim Soldier

Well it seems that being a parent 2nd time round, having lots of important work, and having the in-laws over at the moment is slowing down action on this blog! It’s also slowed my reading down to almost a stop, but I’m slowly getting through Conspiracy of Kindness (see sidebar).

Last night as I was reading Steve Sjogren mentions how the traditional church tends to be a exclusive. Sjogren uses the idea of church language to illustrate this, as it can often be that the terminology we use is very different to that used outside the church. For me though this is not the main point of exclusion!

I have seen too many times the exclusion of people because they don’t fit our perfect model of what is acceptable in church. I’ve seen people turned away at the door because they are dirty or smelly. In The Salvation Army I’ve seen people treated as lesser soldiers because they don’t play in the band or sing in the songsters. I’ve seen people rejected on the basis of their lifestyle because it is different to what is acceptable by the respectable community of people inside the church!

Yet when I turn to the New Testament I see a message of inclusion. I see Jesus spending the majority of his ministry in the unfashionable backwaters of his homeland. I see Jesus spending his time with the people that the establishment looked down upon and were excluded from reputable society. Indeed Jesus says in John 6:37 that he will not reject anyone who comes to him!

We need to be more inclusive. This doesn’t mean we have to condone the sin of people, indeed this was something that Jesus challenged people over, but we do need to find ways of making people feel accepted. Instead of turning people away at the door, we should be embracing them and welcoming them in. Even better would be that we would go out into the ‘highways and byways’ and meet people where they are, offering them the fullness of life that is available through the Gospel.