Hey my man Tyris can give some serious testomonies. One is about a guy one of the leaders took into to his home. But I am not going to take it as far as the home. So here are the questions.
1. If this man walked into to your church during the normal worship service, smelling very bad what would happen:
a. Will he be escorted out
b. Will all of the members offer him a Joel Olsteen smile
c. Will he be loved as if George Bush Jr just walked in?
This is a serious question!
a. He would not be escorted out.
b. Joel Osteen smile is normal but usually followed with authentic interest in that person’s spiritual state.
c. George Bush would hear the Gospel and be treated as anyone else who is dead in their sins and asked to repent!
Some at my church differ on politics. Some are like me and don’t vote(yeah I said it) and others see it as a duty to do so. There is liberty here!!! lets not go there…..
Something similar happened to us. We had finished eating one Sunday morning (we still meet to “break bread”, among other things). As I was taking some things to our car, I noticed a man standing around. He was dressed much like the man in your photo. I started talking to him and found out that he was hungry. I took him into the room that we rent on Sunday mornings, and asked my wife if she would fix him a plate of food while I talked to him. She started putting some food together, and without a big announcement or anything, other people started bringing food over for him. Also, as I sat and talked with him while he ate, several people came over and introduced themselves and begin to talk with him as well. When he was ready to leave, we offered him a ride, but he declined. We did send him with more food though.
So, how would a homeless man be treated? From experience, I think he would be treated with dignity and love.
What about George Bush? Well, I think he would be welcomed at our table as well. He’d probably have to answer different kinds of questions though.
-Alan
We had a man come to us one time and he had on only a pair of jeans shorts. No shirt or shoes. He did not ask for anything but a Bible. He wanted to hear the message and then he left.
I think in answer to you first question he wouldn’t be allowed in the majority of religious Christian buildings. Yet if Bush came it would great fanfare. How sad. We need to revisit the book of James.
Hey Tyris,
My question wasn’t how George Bush would be treated, but would the man be treated with honor and respect given to a president. Nothing to do with George Bush bro, it was more the office that he occupies sorry for the confustion
Alan,
I knew that would be your answer
)
Phillip,
Thanks for stopping by friend. I must add you to the blogroll so I can check you daily. You and Alan have become two of my favorite bloggers. God bless
This is a good question brother, thank you for asking. My answers genuinely blend in along these lines. But I’m just finding it interesting . . . The last 8 of your blogs have drawn up to 30 plus responses of deep, deep, detailed (nearly expositional) responses – yet this question . . . draws only the responses of the crickets.
I meant that my answer would blend in along the lines of those listed above – sorry, took a brief moment at work to comment, got confused.
Maybe it is a bit uncomfortable, especially with the prim and proper “worship services” we are so customed to particpating in. I would love to see a few homeless guys walk into our fellowship and sit down at a table, I definitely believe it could cause some disrruptions. LOL.
he’d be welcomed in and offered the same refreshments that are available to all visitors..and mos def be invited to lunch after the worship service.
Nobody really wants to deal with homeless people or the downtrodden in their own community. That is a fact, no matter what anybody tells you. We fall so in love with our church buildings, that we forget that the church exists whereever the people of God are. As in Jeremiah’s day (ch.7), the people have worshipped their precious temple rather than their Creator.