Church hurts sometimes

Maybe it's because my church has been doing a sermon series on the sins of the Church, but lately I keep running into more and more people who have been deeply wounded by the Church. Things that a pastor or a leader said or did to them, lack of a welcome, a large dose of guilt. By far, the greatest infraction that I notice repeated over and over again in the stories of pain, are instances of judgment. People were hurt because they were excluded or judged by someone at their church. I hope that you can see how much it hurts others when we measure, judge or condemn them. I hope that we can see that the only people that Jesus crushed were the religious hypocrites who judged others. Jesus spread love. God's love is big, broad and wide, and He does not draw lines of separation, only circles that take people in. The Church will never win people by judging them. If you see someone that you don't like, or you don't like what they're doing, just love them. Reach out and give them the gift of grace just like God thankfully extends to us each and everyday. It starts with me and it starts with you...