The Smith family consisted of a mother, father and two little ones (not infants). The father and children had arrived before the mother. The little boy was standing on the pew when his mother arrived. She confronted him with, "Mister, how do we sit in church?" Apparently, he complied (I didn't turn around to look!), but it reminded me of my own childhood attendance of dressing in dress shirts, ties, vests (close-fitting, waist-length, sleeveless garments that button down the front, designed to be worn under a jacket, for those of you who don't know!), dress socks and shoes, and "Don't run in church", et cetera. It seemed like we were living in fear of God and that we couldn't REALLY be ourselves, like God doesn't/won't accept us as we are but how we perform. While I didn't necessarily NOT enjoy church or grow up hating it, it was still . . . different. Kind of like when we'd visit my grandparents' house (actually, it was a mansion). My grandmother grew up all fancy and full of etiquette and fine manners, so I had to be on my best behavior ("like a little gentleman"). Kinda like church.
The Browns are a family consisting of a mother, two teenage children (son and daughter), a grandmother and the mother's gentleman friend. During the worship service, this family seemed to worship with displays of hand-raising and singing. Somehow, though, I got the sense that they were just trying to fit in.
Two families: both looking for God in their own way, not knowing that God loves and will accept them right where they are in their lives.
It seems that we as people, as broken and hurting where we are, are obsessed with trying to fill the void in our lives with sex, substances, relationships, et cetera, that when we FINALLY realise that WE cannot find the right "thing" to fill the void and/or we realise that only God can fill it, we try to clean ourselves up before finding and accepting Him!
How and why has the church missed the mark in communicating that God loves us in our messed up and broken condition? Why hasn't the church communicated that she is the only place "where it is okay to not be okay"?
