Finding God

 Good morning !!

 I recently ran across a post on social media from someone who is not my friend, but rather is a friend of one of my friends on that platform.  I’ll call the friend of a friend “Laura” and my social media friend “Jennifer.”  Laura posted what I am about to read first.  Jennifer then responded to Laura with something that I think you need to hear.  These short posts give a very different perspective on “finding God” than what most of us who are Christ-followers have.  The background of both Laura and Jennifer is, I believe, one of battling with the demon of addiction.  I’ll read these two posts, then will respond.

 Laura writes:  I didn’t find God at church, I found him on my bathroom floor hysterically crying begging for him to stop the pain & heal my heart.

Jennifer responds:  It IS God there with us on the bathroom floor! But boy have we used His community to apply the bandages afterward and warm the bath water to start again. I’ve found both too! Much needed!

 There are a couple of messages in this short conversation that we who are Christians need to understand.

First, many people don’t necessarily “find God” in a church setting, or in any place even close to a church setting.  Laura just came out and said she didn’t find God at church.  That doesn’t surprise me.  Some people are intimidated by church.  Some don’t handle crowds very well.  Others may feel like an outsider, not a part of the cliques that inevitably form in such gatherings.  Still others may feel uncomfortable in the clothes they are wearing, their hygiene, or their lack of self-respect.

No matter how hard we try to be friendly, welcoming, and accepting of others, there are some who have such barriers and walls about them that even our warmest greetings cannot penetrate.  That’s just the way it is sometimes.

Laura did say that she found God on the bathroom floor with her as she was in the midst of the pain that inevitably comes as a result of addiction.  God isn’t averse to being with us when we are in the middle of our greatest depression and need.  He is there when we hurt.  He is there when we are ill.  He is there in our time of greatest need.  He hears our cries, our sobs, our screams.  He lays on the bathroom floor with us as we work through our pain and suffering.  He heals.

 Second, the faith community, when working as it should, can be an incredible resource for helping those who are hurting.  Notice what Jennifer said.  She evidently has been on that bathroom floor herself.  She knows God is there on the floor with her.  And she also knows that her church community will be there to help her heal…pick up the pieces and glue them back together…to “apply the bandages and warm the bathwater,” as she puts it, so she can start again.

Church done right is much more than meeting once a week on Sunday.  Church is God at work in the lives of those who are, as Laura said, “hysterically crying” for His help and healing.  Church is loving one’s neighbor.  Church is generosity.  Church is being there.  Church is reaching out…helping, holding, healing.

Jennifer has found God on the bathroom floor, and has experienced the healing of God in the church family that surrounds her and loves her.  This…this is the church at work in the world.  This is the church, gritty and real.  This is the church, in the mess and chaos.  This is what the church should look like the other one hundred and sixty six hours of the week when we’re not gathering together in worship and fellowship.

So, what about your church family?  Does it “apply the bandages and warm the bath water” from time to time as needed to help in the healing process of someone who is truly loved as a neighbor?  Is your church family one that God works in and through for someone on the bathroom floor, whether literally or figuratively, hysterically crying for healing and help?

More to the point; what about you?  How do you figure in this mix?  What part do you play as a member of your church family?  How can you truly use God’s power to redeem the creation, even if that redemption is just one person?

I’ll leave you with these questions…you’ll have to supply your own answers.  And I’ll invoke God’s richest blessings upon you as you both find your place in His plan for you and with His blessing carry out the work He has prepared for you to do.

 Blessings,