church

I am struck with the reality that church has become a place to show up with your Sunday best. The gathering that happens on Sunday mornings seems to be a time to put on your happiest face, no matter what you are going through; dress your best; smile your biggest and guilt yourself because you're just not good enough.

I guess I think about the fact that Jesus came for the sick and broken and even though the sick and the broken attend church, they don't want to be seen as sick and broken. So people do their best to cover that up and hope no one realizes that they are hurting, alone, broken vessels.

Shouldn't Sundays be a time to come together and be real? Shouldn't we walk in with the need of Christ to fill us, to heal the pain, to bind the broken? Shouldn't tears and tissues be a commonplace instead of the stiff upper lip?

When did church become the time to put on the show? When did it become the place to hide? Why do we pretend we are perfect when really we are a mess? Why do we pretend to be well when we are sick? Why do we smile when we want to cry?

Sad really.