Bring the Wounded Home

During the Civil War, they used homes as hospitals for wounded soldiers. Yeah, I feel that lately. It’s called church hurt.

Church Hurt

Recently, a few people wandered into my home with wounds and scars inflicted by their own. I didn’t make any house calls, but in addition to some scheduled appointments, my path crossed others in various places with deep church hurt. Some stayed, some left, and others are still on the fence. They came from different places, different churches and different situations. In some cases, there were doctrinal disagreements, but mostly there were misunderstandings. Huge misunderstandings. Across the board, the diagnosis was the same – church hurt. Church hurt doesn’t have to be terminal. Healing is possible, but often it becomes a chronic ache. In the worst-case scenarios, it becomes a mortal wound, severing the member from the body altogether.

Causes of church hurt

The body of Christ is made up of imperfect believers – a bunch of flawed human beings connected by a common bond and divided by everything else: interpretation of Scripture, personal preferences, self-absorption, politics, and misunderstandings. When we come together as a church, we come with our own hurts that nobody can see and may not understand. Then we make assumptions, a whole lot of assumptions.

But remember, the real cause is a real enemy who seeks to kill, steal and destroy; an enemy who roams the earth seeking whom to devour; the father of lies who distorts truth and twist facts. When someone gets picked off, he celebrates.

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 (NLT)

Perfect church

You already know this, but there are no perfect churches. However, there are healthy churches. These bodies of believers love and care for each other. No matter what. When there are divisions, they do the hard work of restoration. If there is true sin, they come alongside their brothers and sisters and gently help them. Grace isn’t just a word, it’s a characteristic of Christ. We can’t talk about grace then fail to show it.

“Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:1-2

Same diagnosis, different cause

Here are some thoughts I’ve shared before:

Remember, you don’t always know the whole story. Behind the scenes, people may have gutted it out trying hard to follow the Lord. What you see isn’t always what you think you see. Read more about that here.

One time I quit going to church. I don’t recommend it, but you can read about it by clicking here.

For some, Sundays are the hardest day of the week. I’ve been there if you want to read more.

A little back story

I started blogging in late December 2014. In a serious health crisis, I struggled to walk or use my arms, but I could type. The words flowed and were much needed therapy as I lost nearly everything about my former life. Treatments and surgery eventually helped me into remission and I went back to work and life. That left less time and turmoil to write about. Then the pandemic hit. I’ll write more about that later, but for the first time in my life the isolation caused deep loneliness. After neglecting my writing, I went a little different direction and started a newsletter instead of a blog.Also, my blog got reported as spam and I just got tired of trying to overcome the frustration of pouring out words that went to junk mail. Okay, whining over.

The intent of a newsletter was that it would be a bit more personal and not for public consumption. blogs are shared on Facebook, but newsletters are just for readers.

The current theme is sort of a ”Who is coming to dinner?” series. Recently, I went on a pilgrimage to Italy, so I’ll be sharing about that soon. If you haven’t been getting those emails, check your junk mail. If they aren’t there, then you aren’t on that list. You may be on my blog list, but this requires a separate sign up. If you are interested, click here for more info and there’s a place to sign up so you’re on both lists:

Resonating

The above post was sent out privately as part of the dinner series. It seemed to hit such a nerve, I decided it might be helpful to use as a blog post too. Judging by the feedback, church hurt is something that needs to be addressed. Not that I’m the expert, my hurt was mild compared to many.

The topic seemed to come up in multiple settings, so I wrote about it. If I’ve learned anything from those who’ve been hurt, it’s that they don’t talk about it. There’s no big story here for me, but I can relate so I shared a few words intended to bring healing and perspective.

You can share this if you think it will help someone. And I’m here if you want to talk about it privately.

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