So You Call Yourself a Christian Huh?

*Before I start diving into this post, please let me be clear. I am not trying to disrespect ANYONE, however, this will probably step on many of your toes!*

So a few Sundays ago, I found myself in a very scary/anxious situation while at church. I got a text stating that there was a white guy in service, wearing army fatigue pants and that he had a bag with him. My immediate response was, “I’m Rey dip!”, because you know, I AM NOT HERE FOR IT! But of course, I stayed and just found myself very distracted, looking over at him every so often. Everyone (well not really everyone, but those who knew) was on high alert and preparing to have to go into immediate action, if and/or when something popped off. I watched him continuously, as did security members and others. 

NOTHING HAPPENED. 

At NO point in the service, did anything happen. HE DID NOTHING. Although he didn’t stand up when we were welcoming visitors, he did participate in the greet your neighbor portion right after. At that point, one of the ministers went and sat with him so he would feel a little more welcomed, as if that was possible after what we had already been doing 🙄🤦🏽‍♀️. After my pastor finished preaching, he asked for people to stand who wanted to learn more about God and His Word so that he could pray for them. Brother man STOOD. He walked around for the offering. After the benediction, the minister and a few other guys walked him out. Other than that, he did nothing, he was innocent. 

BUT SOMETHING DID HAPPEN.

So I started thinking and then I start feeling bad, because something did happen. What happened is we turned into (well let’s be real, some of us ALREADY live in that space 😒) some of the most judgmental people ever, who probably made someone feel horrible. Like wow, we are really awful people! WE were the ones who were guilty! He was simply a guy who was in the area and wanted to be in church that morning and we were the closest one he could WALK to! He was hungry for something and seeking God for it! Yet, we labeled him as a threat, instead of our brother in Christ. Like this man literally said he was in town because of his team y’all, no other reason! 

Grant it, I do know the day and age that we are living in. I also know that as of late, there have been a lot of issues going on between white and black people. So I get people being afraid of what seems to be out of the ordinary. But I also know, what it’s like for people to judge you before you even open your mouth! I know what it’s like for people to walk around whispering about you, pretending like you don’t have a clue of what they could be talking about. I know exactly what it’s like to feel unwanted, in my own church. 

You see there were so many people saying well, “we rather be safe than sorry”!!! I agree, it is important for us to be safe, but at what expense? To me, how we made or possibly made him feel, wasn’t worth it. I’m glad nothing popped off, but let’s be clear, the MOMENT it would have, brother man would have regretted it. We never saw any type of weapon, we just assumed that there was something, simply because of the way he LOOKED. To me, that’s not good enough. I’m sure he felt and saw all of the stares. I’m sure he was embarrassed or taken aback to be the ONLY person who was escorted out of the building. Like yes, they were “talking” to him as they walked him out, BUT, it was to be sure that he did in fact exit the building, without causing any harm. Like I wondered how did he feel in that particular moment? How did he feel when everyone stared at him? How did he feel when he came in searching for a God moment, but was in turn given treatment of a maybe criminal? I hope he was completely oblivious to what was happening and that I was feeling more than he was. I hope it was never his intent to do anything bad to himself or anyone else. I hope that if he did come with the intent to harm anyone, that he quickly dismissed those thoughts and asked God to forgive him. I hope his experience didn’t deter him from God or the church. I just hope that we have a chance to correct our mistake. 

So this incident triggered my little brain. I started thinking about so many different situations that have occurred in my church, places of employment, other churches and just the world in general. So many so called Christians have been exhibiting less than Christ like behavior. From the regular ol pew members all the way to leadership. Like from a little whisper here and there, to walking by people and refusing to part your lips to acknowledge their presence, to full on scandals. It’s not right for ANY person to act that way. 

Let me help y’all out, STOP THAT MESSY, MEAN, NEGATIVE, VINDICTIVE, NASTY, JUDGEMENTAL stuff that y’all Christians aka CHURCH people KEEP doing! I mean I can only speak for myself and what I see at MY church, but I know we can’t be the only ones guilty of displaying such disgusting behavior! But I mean if your church is perfect, just help us to be better 😫🤗. I KNOW that church is a place for the SICK to come and be healed, but at what point do we begin to take accountability for our behavior and become active participants in our healing? It’s time to grow up. Get off the milk and get on the meat. If you’re sitting under such rich Word, week after week, at some point, your life should reflect the God you claim to know and love so much, working on you. 

You’ve been charged by God to LOVE your brother/sister/neighbor, whatever you want to call them (1 John 4:7, John 15:7). You’ve been charged by God to welcome STRANGERS into your land (Deuteronomy 10:19). You’ve been charged by God to FORGIVE each other  (Matthew 6:12, 14-15). You’ve been charged by God to go to THAT PERSON that you have an issue with to clear things up, not Facebook, Instagram, and 123 other people, BEFORE you ever even make it to that person. Listen, you’re only allowed to bring in someone else, if you’re brother refuses to hear you out (Matthew 18:16-17). Let’s start loving each other. Let’s start correcting each other with love. Let’s start ministering with love. Let’s start being exactly who we claim to be, CHRISTIANS, and showing the love of Christ in ALL of our interactions (not just to the people that we like this week 🤦🏽‍♀️🙄).

❤️MrR❤️

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