Taking the question out of Christianity....

I have been in the church for as long as I can remember. To miss a Sunday was unheard of in our family...yet even in all of that....something was missing. I recall many a casual services attended even as a child wondering if they understood the totality of their worship or messages preached. It seemed all to scripted...today I look at the church "the body of Christ...the bride of Christ" and I wander what kind of bride would we be. Would we walk that isle with confidence to the bridegroom that awaits or would we be cowardly sitting in the corner thinking ourselves not worthy to marry a groom of this magnitude. In those churches as I was growing I recall so many times families that came for the 911 call. You know the type...you've been the type. We all profess that we believe in God but yet we only need him when our world is crashing down around us. I remember deacons informing divorced mothers that there was no place for them in this church, or the couple that we're living together...being told "no admittance," clean up your act and then come look us up. Do we fail today at reminding people that God chose you!!! He knows your sins, He knows my sins but yet he gently reminds us...that...YOU are Welcome here. I have a place for you. I have a name for you. I have a job for you to fulfill the words that I gave my prophets in times of old. He didn't ask about their past, he didn't dwell on the fact that our messed up lives couldn't possibly be used by the king of kings. We believe the misconception that all of the followers before us Had it All Together before God called and continued to use them. When Christ called his first disciple Peter, Peter had even asked Jesus to go away from him for he was a sinful man. But Christ didn't settle for that he insisted and Peter dropped everything right there in that very moment and gave his life to serving God. 2 Corinthians 5:16 "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation; the OLD is GONE, the new has come! I think that was what attracted us so much to Carlinville Southern life. They believed fully in the fact that Jesus came to save the sick (the lost) not to save the found. We began to grow in the Carlinville Southern family. We began to be challenged by those that surrounded us. We began to challenge one another to walk out a life worthy of the calling. Not to be worthy....but to strive daily to make our lives more inline with that of Jesus. blog post by Tammy Konneker