reeling
So last night I went to church (I had been away for the past 2 weeks) and the service was kinda like... um wow. But, I am totally overwhelmed and surprised. I guess really unsure of how to respond the whole time was how I felt.
Just sat then still as a stone for about an hour then went out side when we had a break. I think I more or less checked out the rest of the service not wanting to think about it at all.
What I'm thinking now is: Do I want to go back? What am I supposed to do? What is next sunday going to be like? This is something that doesn't happen at our church, it is something that happens at another church, or that you read about in the news somewhere.
Just sat then still as a stone for about an hour then went out side when we had a break. I think I more or less checked out the rest of the service not wanting to think about it at all.
What I'm thinking now is: Do I want to go back? What am I supposed to do? What is next sunday going to be like? This is something that doesn't happen at our church, it is something that happens at another church, or that you read about in the news somewhere.
posted by Paulos | 4:05 PM
12 Comments:
You may not want to go back. But you need to go back. We all need to go back. We need to be there for each other. We need to heal together.
can you share what happened?
Paul, bless your heart. I know it's hard. I know it's painful. But that's why you need to come back. We all need each other. this can't tear our church apart. If we stay together we will only grow stronger... main that sounded really cliche. but I think you know it's right
I know what you mean. I'm still a little numb, too. It was very surreal, like something like that doesn't happen here. I'm going back, it's going to be uncomfortable, but we need to be there for each other. Even if we don't know how to respond, we can learn from it and grow.
Oh I'm planning on going back, just my nature is to disengage. It isn't like anything was done to me by having an emotional service.
This stuff happens!!! It has happened many times and many places before and people have hurt for a very long time and fallen away from God due to how the Church response. Sadly "OUR FRIENDS" have been the victims of this situations and we must look past our own hurt and dissapointment to respond to them as Christ would. Please, I beg of you, recognize that we are no different than any "other church" or anyone else. We all do things we never thought we would do. Grace and selflessness, mercy and love.
from an outsider perspective i have to say that to walk away from and further alienate people in your church due to sin of that kind would only serve to solidify the way many people view the church as totally hypocritical (myself included admittedly). i think it would do more for your cause to follow jeremy's advice and go back and help everyone heal from it. just don't forget about the parties involved either (BOTH- not just the one who is going to be sticking around your community)- they need more help than anyone else. i just don't want to see the person who basically got forced from the community get shunned entirely because he sinned (let's remember BOTH parties had a role to play). everyone does shitty stuff all the time, and sin has no hierarchy, so don't treat it as such by having this event (tragic albeit) force you to distance and abandon an otherwise healthy community.
sheesh, that's a lot from someone who wasn't even there...
It isn't like I don't want leave because of those involved it is just that the whole church is full of grief right now and I don't know what to do (if anything)
Pray.
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Terry, one of the (really weird) things I love about you is that you don't really believe this stuff, or maybe you don't believe IN this stuff, but you're still giving some really sound advice.
And just so you know, *HE* is not being shunned. He's around and has received some encouraging phone calls and stuff.
I'm gonna put this on your blog as well in case you don't read this.
Bummer.
-T
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