On Sunday night November 6th a small group of people who are trying to do life in a more real, authentic and impacting way met for the fist time in what we call EPIC.
It was a wonderful night. It was great to be there in that place spending time with each other, listening to each other and getting to know each other, more. I believe our night was a GREAT beginning and I'm already looking forward to next week. Thank you for making our beginning, a memorable one.
I spent some time today with a woman who attended EPIC and had spent some time a few weeks ago at a place where people go who are hurting, want to hurt themselves, have hurt themselves and probably others. She said that what she really enjoyed about this place was that "in there" you could really be "real". At the church I attend there are several AA and NA groups that meet there each week and I have a friend or two that meet in AA's or NA's in the places they live and they all seem to have the same feeling, "it's a place where I can say what I want, confess what I want, come as I am, be real and nobody judges me".
As I thought about this the other day after I hung up with a friend just returning from an AA meeting and following today's conversation. I began to think that maybe God has taken the mantle of confession and healing that His church is supposed to have and given it to others so that confession and healing can actually happen. I'm sure I'm not the first to think this, but has AA, NA, group therapy settings and counselors become what God intended His church to be more like. Are these the new churches? And you know what? The more I hear about places like this, the more I want to attend. To be able to walk into a place where you are not judged by your look, walk, shirt, odor. Share what's on and in your heart to people who say, "been there", "thanks" "it's going to be ok", "glad your here and I'm glad you got this off your chest" or whatever else they say there, sounds like a pretty inviting place.
As I grew up I dealt with many of the things most of us deal with as we grow up. Drinking, lying, cheating, lust, sexual struggles, low self esteem and all that goes with that, smoking and recreational drug use, etc. I guess I could have went to a "church" or the place I attended and confess these things that were eating me up inside but I didn't feel like I could. In fact although it should be the first place where I can confess and get help with life's struggles, it was actually the last place I felt like I could confess anything. Maybe it's time for us to reclaim our role in the realm of confession and forgiveness. Not to wipe out AA's or NA's but to be maybe, just maybe, be how I believe God intends us to be. The loving extension of HIM. The loving extension of GRACE.
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark.......no longer stings
Because Grace makes beauty............out of ugly things
Grace makes beauty out of ugly things.
from the song GRACE by U2
As I thought about this the other day after I hung up with a friend just returning from an AA meeting and following today's conversation. I began to think that maybe God has taken the mantle of confession and healing that His church is supposed to have and given it to others so that confession and healing can actually happen. I'm sure I'm not the first to think this, but has AA, NA, group therapy settings and counselors become what God intended His church to be more like. Are these the new churches? And you know what? The more I hear about places like this, the more I want to attend. To be able to walk into a place where you are not judged by your look, walk, shirt, odor. Share what's on and in your heart to people who say, "been there", "thanks" "it's going to be ok", "glad your here and I'm glad you got this off your chest" or whatever else they say there, sounds like a pretty inviting place.
As I grew up I dealt with many of the things most of us deal with as we grow up. Drinking, lying, cheating, lust, sexual struggles, low self esteem and all that goes with that, smoking and recreational drug use, etc. I guess I could have went to a "church" or the place I attended and confess these things that were eating me up inside but I didn't feel like I could. In fact although it should be the first place where I can confess and get help with life's struggles, it was actually the last place I felt like I could confess anything. Maybe it's time for us to reclaim our role in the realm of confession and forgiveness. Not to wipe out AA's or NA's but to be maybe, just maybe, be how I believe God intends us to be. The loving extension of HIM. The loving extension of GRACE.
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark.......no longer stings
Because Grace makes beauty............out of ugly things
Grace makes beauty out of ugly things.
from the song GRACE by U2
2 comments:
Yay :-)...I enjoyed EPIC a lot and I am happy to be apart of it.
See you at lunch Kelly Brown.
the lyric is actually "what left a mark . . . no longer *stains*", not "stings"
Great post.
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