Posts
Friday's Faith
What's Wrong in This Picture?
(You Call This "Faith"?!)
by Tommy and Angie Prince
The organization that is helpful to us child-loss grievers is called The Compassionate Friends. What we griever's crave from outsiders is some form of compassion. It doesn't have to be much ~ It can be a kind thought, "We're thinking about you today," which is, in essence, a degree of "climbing into our pain" with us, even if just for a moment.
The religious want that pain to just go away, and they certainly don't want to have to feel our pain. So, they just get mad at us -- at us, the victims of the death of our child over which we had no control. How cruel. How unkind. How un-Christlike.
The God of love, the Author of Compassion is being left out of the equation when the religious shun or condemn us grievers, for whatever their reasons.
Today, Tommy and I "met" a couple (in one of our Facebook grief groups) who lost their 28-year-old son just 6 months ago and have been, as you and we might imagine, deeply grieving their beloved son. We heard today that the grieving father of this son is also a preacher; this father went to the gravesite of his son today on what would have been his son's birthday to spread his ashes; when the father returned to the church in which he's the pastor, he discovered the church doors were locked...
HE WAS LOCKED OUT OF HIS CHURCH. THE LOCKS ON THE DOORS OF HIS CHURCH HAD BEEN CHANGED. HIS CHURCH FIRED HIM.
Their reasons? They told him his grief "scared" people, he was sad and depressed, and they felt he talked about his son too much, which made the church-goers uncomfortable. He had been their pastor for four years.
We are appalled.
If we heard this story correctly, then it seems to us these people have a very perverted view of our compassionate Savior.
What has happened in our churches that we have gotten so far away from The God of Love, the Jesus that Wept over death, the God who is called "the Father of all Compassion"?
What's Wrong in this Picture?
(You Call This "Faith"?!)
Neighbors accept me for who I am;
The pious treat me like I'm on the lam.
Neighbors give when I can't give back;
The pious seem offended by my lack.
Neighbors seem to understand my plight;
The pious don't think I'm doing "it" right.
Neighbors seem to be all-accepting;
The pious are busy self-protecting.
Neighbors ever offer kind regards;
The pious are busy putting up their guards.
Neighbors humble me, they're so gracious;
The pious condescend with pride outrageous.
Neighbors surround me with Christ's love;
The pious just want to give me a shove.
Neighbors greet me with demeanors nice;
The pious meanly dish out their advice.
What has happened to Christ's own body?
Christ would never treat a weak one shoddy!
I'm thankful my neighbors reach out to me;
Neighbors and strangers, Lord, embody Thee.
The pious forget us ~ "the least of these";
O Lord, how that must, Your Spirit grieve.
Those who say they follow You, themselves deceive;
Blessed are the Christlike, loving us who grieve.
Poem - What is Wrong in this Picture? (You Call This "Faith"?!) - Angie Bennett Prince - 7/10/2011
No comments:
Post a Comment