While listening to the message on Sunday, I was reminded of my high school experience as a Christian. The public school I attended was fairly large, but I only knew of a handful of students who also considered themselves Christians. It never occurred to me to find out if there were any other Christians out there, even when there was an announcement for a 'Bible Study Club' meeting at lunch.
Looking back, I can tell you now why I didn't go to the 'Bible Study Club'. It was because the two girls who led it were richer than I was, prettier than I was, and more popular than I was. And as you well know, high school is defined by a hierarchy of cliques. The lines were clearly drawn, and there was no way I would attend a club led by girls from another group.
I should also mention that I was naive, proud, and spent most of my time focused on choir, boys, and my internal teenage angst rather than on God and His truth. I should have given these girls a chance to prove me wrong, but I didn't. Still, I felt like an outsider looking in, certain that the girls in the Bible Study would not accept me because I did not look or act like them. I did not wear designer brands. I attended a small, all-Chinese church. They were 'in', and I was 'out'.
High school, though highly dramatized, does reflect the adult world on a smaller scale. How many people hesitate to attend church because they feel that their clothes are not good enough? Or that their hobbies, language, or income are not the same? Do people on the outside see Christians as a club, a clique, a group of good-looking people who are not accepting of those who are not similar to them?
I don't want to say it, but the answer to all of the above is 'yes' for the American church.
Now imagine the early church. Greeks, Romans, and Jews are gathering together for the first time. Groups that are usually divided, like slave owners and slaves, men and women, educated and not, must learn to see past their differences in a culture steeped in segregation.
And I say, if they could do it, we could too.
We can love each other in such a way that outsiders take notice. And what they will see is not our pleasant smiles and well-pressed clothes, but that we gather together, all ethnicities, all social backgrounds, all languages and talents, in one building to worship one God. And they will not see people who are different from them, but the same: broken people in need of God and His love, hope, and joy.
Looking back, I can tell you now why I didn't go to the 'Bible Study Club'. It was because the two girls who led it were richer than I was, prettier than I was, and more popular than I was. And as you well know, high school is defined by a hierarchy of cliques. The lines were clearly drawn, and there was no way I would attend a club led by girls from another group.
I should also mention that I was naive, proud, and spent most of my time focused on choir, boys, and my internal teenage angst rather than on God and His truth. I should have given these girls a chance to prove me wrong, but I didn't. Still, I felt like an outsider looking in, certain that the girls in the Bible Study would not accept me because I did not look or act like them. I did not wear designer brands. I attended a small, all-Chinese church. They were 'in', and I was 'out'.
High school, though highly dramatized, does reflect the adult world on a smaller scale. How many people hesitate to attend church because they feel that their clothes are not good enough? Or that their hobbies, language, or income are not the same? Do people on the outside see Christians as a club, a clique, a group of good-looking people who are not accepting of those who are not similar to them?
I don't want to say it, but the answer to all of the above is 'yes' for the American church.
Now imagine the early church. Greeks, Romans, and Jews are gathering together for the first time. Groups that are usually divided, like slave owners and slaves, men and women, educated and not, must learn to see past their differences in a culture steeped in segregation.
And I say, if they could do it, we could too.
We can love each other in such a way that outsiders take notice. And what they will see is not our pleasant smiles and well-pressed clothes, but that we gather together, all ethnicities, all social backgrounds, all languages and talents, in one building to worship one God. And they will not see people who are different from them, but the same: broken people in need of God and His love, hope, and joy.
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