“You can't judge people and touch their souls at the same time.”

I haven't had a lot of time to blog recently. Summer has started and has kicked into full gear. I thought that I was going to have a lot more free time than I did during the school year, but that assumption has proven to be wrong. I've spent a week in San Antonio. A week in Nashville. And I will be leaving for Marco Island, FL in 24 hours to spend a week there. In between all of my trips, I've had many coffee dates, meals, and events with my students. And in between all of that---I've been attempting to balance two online summer classes, so that I can graduate a semester early.

My schedule is hectic, but I wouldn't have it any other way! Although, I wish that I had more time to blog! There have been many different times this summer when something will happen and I'll think---I need to blog about that! Or that would be a great topic for a blog! But they've all fallen short of an entry, since I never had the time to blog.

Well, this topic just couldn't be passed up. 

I was at the Casting Crowns concert at Six Flags with my students this past Saturday. We spent the day running around the park in the sunshine, but as the concert grew closer, rain started to fall and storms moved in. The Six Flags concert venue is outside, so naturally, we were rather upset about the bewildering clouds that loomed over the amphitheater. It started to downpour about ten minutes before the band was supposed to come onstage. The concert wasn't delayed and at 8 o'clock, Casting Crowns took the stage. They only had time for one song before the concert was halted and everyone was told to seek shelter. At this moment, all of my students asked if we were leaving or staying. They all wanted to stay. They begged, actually. So, we waited out the storm and eventually went back out to the amphitheater. 

As the band started up again, they started to play "Praise You in This Storm," which was (oh so) fitting because of the thunder and lightning that clapped around us. I thought this was going to be the "defining" moment of the concert for me. This is my favorite song by Casting Crowns. And I thought that was going to be the "take away" moment for me at the concert. So, I waited to hear God. I waited to experience God. I waited to sense God. But the song came and passed and I didn't get that "moment." You know the moment that I'm talking about. The moment at a church camp, at a christian concert, or at a christian conference where God just speaks directly to your heart. I was expecting that during that particular song.! I mean, it was storming while they sang "Praise You in This Storm," what a perfect set-up for God to speak to me! But alas, that was not the moment that I took home with me. 

Then, a couple songs later---"Jesus, Friend of Sinners"started to play. As the lyrics flashed across the screen on the stage, I knew that God was choosing to use that song to speak to my heart:

"Jesus, friend of sinners, we have strayed so far away.

We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing.

Jesus, friend of sinners, the truth's become so hard to see.

The world is on their way to You, but they're tripping over me.

Always looking around, but never looking up---I'm so double minded.

A plank eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided. 

Oh Jesus, friend of sinners. 

Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers.

Let our hearts be led by mercy.

Help us reach with open hearts and open doors.

Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours.

Jesus, friend of sinners, the one who's writing in the sand.

Made the righteous turn away and the stones fall from their hands.

Help us to remember: we are all the least of these.

Let the memory of Your mercy bring Your people to their knees. 

Nobody knows what we're for only what we're against when we judge the wounded.

What if we put down our signs, crossed over the lines, and loved like You did?

You love every lost cause; you reach for the outcast.

For the leper and the lame; they're the reason that You came.

Lord, I was that lost cause and I was the outcast. 

But You died for sinners just like me, a grateful leper at Your feet. 

Oh Jesus, friend of sinners.

Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers.

Let our hearts be led by mercy.

Help us reach with open hearts and open doors.

Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours."

I felt an uneasiness in that moment. The crowd that had been singing every word up until that point---grew strangely quiet. You could see people shifting in their seat. 

And I began to pray.

Pray that those lyrics would be the reality of my lifesong.

Pray that those lyrics would be the cry of every christian.

Pray that those lyrics would change the hearts of those that were listening. 

My heart began to break for every person that has ever felt hatred from "Christians."

My heart began to break for every person that has ever been shunned from "Christians."

My heart began to break for every person that has ever been rejected from "Christians."

Christ loved the unlovely.

Christ wrapped His arms around the wounded.

Christ dined with the sinners.

Christ touched the lepers' unclean skin.

Christ didn't shun, didn't reject, and didn't neglect.

As a Christian, I want to apologize to all of those that have been hurt by "Christians."

For the homosexuals that have felt hatred from "Christian" protestors that don't take the time to know your name or your story....I am sorry. Jesus really does love you. 

For the addicts that have sought help, but quickly fallen back into their addiction---only to be turned away by the church. I am sorry. Jesus really does want you.

For the teenage mother that has sat in the back-row of the church and glared at. I am sorry. Jesus really does see you.

For the homeless that have felt invisible and unwanted among Christians. I am sorry. Jesus really does protect you.

For the outcast that has felt alone, even while surrounded by Christians. I am sorry. Jesus really does accept you.

And I ask you to take a deeper look into who Jesus really is. And what Jesus really stands for. Find a Christian that is willing to listen to you. A Christian that is willing to love you right where you are, and not they want you to be. I promise you that these Christians exist. We may fail at representing Christ, but Christ will never fail you. 

During an interview with a missionary named Stanley Jones, Gandhi gave a chilling response to his Jones' question. 

Jones asked: "My Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is it that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming His follower?

To which Gandhi replied: "Oh, I don't reject Christ. I love Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike Christ." 

I pray that you dwell in this moment with me tonight.

This moment of realizing that Christians have failed to represent Christ to a broken world. 

We've been far to caught up in picketing those that aren't the same as us, those that struggle differently than we do, those that we don't understand.  

Just stop. 

Get the plank out of your own eye. 

You are no different than the homosexual. 

You are no different than the drunk. 

You are no different than the teenage mother. 

You are no different than the outcast. 

You are no different than the drug addict. 

We are all humans. We all sin. We are all trying to find a way to survive in this broken world.

And yet, we point out the flaws in everyone except ourselves. 

I'm not just talking about pointing out the flaws in non-Christians...I'm talking about both non-Christians and Christians. Sometimes, we as Christians are just as quick to judge each other and our relationships with Christ. We judge, manipulate, lie, and do things in God's will.... just so that we can selfishly get our own way. 

Jesus once confronted the judgmental tendencies of the religious people in His day, saying, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you." (Matthew 21:31) 

Jesus literally said to the religious elite of that time---sinners and outcasts are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. Homosexuals and drunkards. Addicts and cheaters. Liars and manipulators. Prideful and depressed.  These people. The ones that you shun. The ones that you push away. The ones that you think you're doing the church a favor by ignoring and casting away---those people are entering the kingdom before the "know-it-all, Christian bubble, stick-my-nose-up-in-the-air-at-you, follow all the rules" religious gurus. What a blow to the Christian ego, right? For so long we have thought that we've been doing the right thing, but we've gotten it so, so wrong. 

What if we put down our signs of judgment? 

What if we crossed over the boundary lines and engaged in a conversation with those that we judge?

What if we truly loved like Jesus did? What if we truly wrapped our arms around the confused, the forgotten, the hopeless, the addicted, the trapped, the broken, the sinful, the prostitutes, the homosexuals, the liars, the cheaters, the manipulators, the drunks, the prideful? 

What if we loved with a love like Jesus'? What if we saw Jesus in every person that we come into contact with? What if we truly loved, with no strings attached---an unconditional love?

My prayer is that one day Christians would known for how much they love others, how much they give to others, how much they listen to others, and how much they care for others. 

In His love,

HG