So, wow, the summer has been busy.
And it isn't over yet.
That's more or less my excuse for not posting in forever. Which is really a rotten excuse for skipping out on my peeps.
Am I allowed to use the term "peeps?"
Hmm.
Well, since last time we spoke, I've been to Camp Meeting for a week, then went back to camp to be Camp Pastor for a week.
I have to tell you... Camp Pastor is the best thing ever. I had a ton of fun. It was Junior camp which means the kids were all age 10-12. The kids were fun, the staff was(and still is) fun... I just had a great time.
It was almost like vacation.
I even have a tan now. Sort of.
However, there was one thing that outraged me and it had nothing to do with the people or the camp.
While I was there I had lots of time to talk and goof off with the staffers. Most are either seniors in High School or early in their college years.
A great group of people, all of them.
Over the week, as I talked with them at different points individually, I had asked some of them what the best and worst parts of the summer at camp were for them.
They all had different ideas of what the best parts were.
The kids. The events. The spirituality. Stuff like that.
But when I asked them what the worst part of the summer was, virtually everyone of them said the exact same thing.
Pastor's retreat.
Over the summer, they are their for a week of Camp Meeting, a week of cub camp, 2 weeks of junior camp, 2 weeks of teen camp, a week of spanish camp(should they stay so long), and then the 3 days of Pastor's retreat.
But out of that whole summer, the worst part of it is the 3 days of Pastor's retreat?
Worse than dealing with bed wetting campers? Worse than dealing with camp politics and drama?
Worse than the early mornings and late nights? Worse than dealing with cranky parents and cranky bosses?
Yep. The worst part was dealing with the Pastor's for 3 days out of the summer.
One person said they had never been treated so bad as they had by some of the pastor's during Camp Meeting. And then, having to deal with no one put pastor's for 3 days...
I actually saw it coming. Only because I had heard of some of the things that had happened. But I didn't know it had been bad for so many of them.
As it turned out, I had only heard a small snippet of the things that actually happened. Nothing criminal. Just extreme rudeness and self absorbed entitlement.
Now, don't think I'm being naive. I know that pastor's can be elitist. They can be caught up with themselves and their perceived status. But as I saw it there, the mass effect that it could have had, and maybe still will, it was like a slap in the face.
I was ashamed to be called a pastor.
To be associated with people who undo everything we stand for.
Now, you may be saying, "Um, ya... there are pastor's and priests running around raping young boys, and this is what you get angry about?"
That's fair. I don't have a good reason. Maybe it's because I've never seen the other up close. I'm not sure.
But I saw in my mind what could have been. A group of good people who's spiritual sensability was completely destroyed.
Fortunately, they weren't.
This time.
Now, to be fair, most of the pastor's in my conference are good people. It was only a small handful that were causing problems.
But a small handful is still a handful too many. It is unacceptable.
This made me start thinking about how we treat the people around us in broader terms.
The example I just gave is clearly a christian problem. But the idea behind is not just a christian problem. How many young people went down a path of bad decision making because someone treated them bad at a critical moment? Or, a number of people treated them badly at a number of critical moments?
It's not just in Christianity. People trying so hard to quash certian behaviour go overboard. Or worse, it's just lazy, selfish people wanting to have their way because they think they are special and entitled.
Like those pastors.
Lazy and selfcentered.
As a christian, it is my honor to try to represent God as honestly as possible. It's not easy. Don't let anyone fool you. The bible isn't nearly as clear cut as some would like to say it is. But it's not impossible either.
One of the biggest points of the gospel is that God is easily accessible. He isn't looking to destroy you. He isn't looking to judge you(do not confuse this with ideas of THE judgment. There is a difference between making a final judgment, and being judgmental.)
The gospel isn't about a micromanaged list of good and bads we have done. This is not how God is looking at us.
He sacrificed everything to save us and make it easy for us to find come to Him. Our mistakes are already covered.
So, when I see someone, especially a pastor, behaving in a way that does NOT represent that, it makes me very angry.
The truth is, when a person sees a christian, especially a pastor, the way they are treated by that person reflects directly on how that person perceives God. If the christian is a selfish pompus ass... well, if that's how a christian is, then what kind of God do they serve?
If the christian is running around flaunting their status, or perceived status, being rude, selfish and elitist, how does that make people see God?
How many people have completely left and denounced God, because they saw christians and clergy and said, "if this is what God is like, I want no part in it."?
One is too many. And unfortunately it's alot more than one.
More damage is done to God's cause by christians than almost any other group. We are our own worst enemies.
Every person I have ever met and known who has left the church, I don't care which denomination, has done so first because of how someone treated them. It's only after that do some from that group decide that God doesn't exist.
They don't want me, so God doesn't want me, so I don't want him.
A real God wouldn't act that way and wouldn't allow his followers to do so, therefore God doesn't exist.
Who can blame them?
Why would anyone want to be part of a group of "saints" who treat people worse than the "sinners" do?
It's insanity.
Christians have made it easy for evil to prevail. We make it easy for evil to seem more accessible than good.
Because the "saint" will thumb his nose at your flaws, but the "sinner" won't. The sinner says, "ya, I know what you mean, I sure like the way she looks too."
The saint says, "that's bad, and you're bad."
At least, that is what some christians have caused many to believe.
Jesus said that he accepted us exactly as we are. The bible is clear that we don't have to improve to be accepted by God.
You into smoking crack while having gay sex with prostitutes? (I think I covered almost every stereotypical christian sin there.)
God still accepts you.
Does he want you to stay that way? No.
But that's just common sense. No one else does either. No good atheist parent wants their kid on drugs and sleeping with anything that has a pusle.
But they do accept their kid none the less.
So does God. It's no different. He says, "I want you. Don't worry about taking a shower and changing cloths. Just come here. We can clean you up later."
That's the same thing a parent will do, christian or not.
But this is the God I serve. The one that worries about fixing you later. The one that just wants you to be safe and at home. The one that isn't wagging his finger at you.
Did you ever notice in the story of Abraham and Sodom and Gamorah that God was the one who came to Abraham before destroying them? They were the worst of the worst on the planet, and yet God stopped to talk to Abraham first. Did God need Abrahams permission?
No.
Did God know what Abraham would say?
Yes.
Abraham keeps asking if God will spare them all, if there are X number of people there.
Everytime God doesn't hesitate to say yes.
Then he waited for Abraham to continue.
God only stopped saying yes because Abraham stopped asking Him to spare them.
He was doing two things. One, he was testing Abraham. Two, He was looking for a reason to not destroy a single person.
The situation is more complex than just that, but you can see the pattern.
How about the famous story of the woman caught in adultry who was brought before Jesus? Much time is spent talking about the evil hypocrasy of the pharisees trapping this woman just to trap Jesus.
And rightly so.
But make no mistake. The woman was, in fact, guilty.
And after Jesus thoroughly embarasses her acusers?
He looks around and scratches his head and goes, "Huh. That's odd, where did everyone go? I could have sworn there was a bunch of people here accusing you of something. Do you see any of them now?"
To which she replied, "um, no?"
To which he replied, "Weird. Well, I guess we can all go home now. I'll catch you later, ya? Till then, stay out of trouble and take it easy."
Mind you, this is the same Jesus who said that "judgment has been given to the son(that's him)."
So, to be clear, the one given the task of judging us, isn't actually interested in judging us. Instead he just forgave us and went on his way.
This is the God I serve.
And any one who doesn't represent God in that manner is no servant of God's and has no business claiming to be one.
John said that anyone who does not love the people around him are not from God because God is love.
Go and be that love for someone today.
