I Wish...

I wish you knew "church" like I know church.

I wish you didn't think about the funeral scene in the first season of House of Cards where the minister turns the service over to the politician and the choir is "gospelly," and every seat in the house is filled, shoulder to shoulder, with blacks and whites sitting together there in the heart of Georgia.

We're not that good.

I wish you didn't think about the TV pastors who show up after tragedy and offer platitudes to whoever for whatever.

We're not that bad.

I wish you didn't think about the mega church pastors who promise health, wealth, or special heaven status while taking your money and flying in personal jets and living in mansions.

We're not those people.

We're just people here at my church. All kinds. All places in our faith development. All abilities. All shapes and sizes and genders and political stripes. And I wish you would see this little miracle we call community that calls together such diverse folks. We work hard to stay connected. It's not easy.

I wish so many things.

I wish we were better at telling you why faith is so important to us.

I wish you were better at hearing us without assuming we are who we are not.

I wish you knew the brokenness that comes through the doors on a Sunday. I wish you knew the fear. I wish you could see the ache that emanates from hearts that have lost husbands or wives, parents or children to death. I wish you could shake hands with the woman who insists everything is fine when you know it is not.

I wish you knew the joy that comes from knowing you have "peeps" who would do anything for you, anytime, anywhere. They can't solve your problems...they know that and so do you...but they will stand beside you, sit with you, hold your hand and never let go.

Until you need them to let go...then they will. But they are there. And they will celebrate as you become the hand holder, praying and holding you in their hearts instead.

I wish you knew the unceasing work and prayer and thought that happens as people seek to do good in the world. I wish you knew how important it was to so many that all people be included and supported, and have the opportunity to be healthy and thrive.

I wish you understood that as one restaurant doesn't make every restaurant bad, one church doesn't make every church bad.

I wish I knew how to meet you and have a conversation with you about the world I want to live in. I wish I could help you understand that the foundation of that world view is our worth coming from God's love for us...and our call being to love others (working for their welfare over our own) as we have been loved by God. This makes us equal in God's sight, each worthy of the other, each deserving because of who God is, not who we are.

I wish we could be a lot more connected, know what to do with our anger, work together instead of fighting each other to change the world.

I wish...