Healing Is The Word

My friend, Pastor Eddie, the televangelist (I love saying that) has been doing a series of words that need to be adopted by churches at his blog www.thepier.blogs.com

Now you have to understand that I find Pastor Eddie to be the most elightened member of the theocracy I have ever known. I value his point of view and am in total agreement with his vision of how to save "religion" from itself. The thing I admire most about him is that he agrees with me (which is how you judge the relative intelligence of another human being). Both of us are firmly committed to working within the framework of the existing church instead of trying to create the world in our own image.

We have seen an explosion of "non-affiliated" churches over the past few decades as people grew tired of the "old ways" put forth by the established denominations. The failings of the denominations are many, but the value is still there, and more importantly, the resources are there - so it is only logical that it is better to work from within than to stand outside and throw stones at the doors of our traditional churches.

The non-denominational churches have been very successful on the surface - but that success is always tied to the personality of the person that started the church and just as soon as they run out of creative energy and life beats them down (which it always does), the church flounders. It is an enevitable cycle.

So before I get too high on my horse, I was going to offer a word as well.

The way I see things - there was one original thought and every thought since them has been a deviation of that original thought so it's OK for us to borrow liberally from our bretheren!!

My word is Healing.

Our churces continually look for ways to evalgelize. We look for ways to bring more "customers" into our fold. We look to be commissioners in the grand scheme of life as we see it and try to be as inclusive as we can.

The only problem is that people tend to congregate with people just like them. So if you go to most churches you will see a sanctuary full of people that look remarkably similar.

So I say, instead of selling ice to the eskimo's, we should take a breath and recognize that the best way to bring people in is to offer them healing.

Healers understand that the quality of what is inside of us will drive what happens on the outside. So instead of smoothing over the rough patches we get to the heart of the matter and build something that will last.

Healers will recognize that healing is not philosophical but requires the laying on of hands. You have to dig deep and be committed to being there and sharing - not just talking about it.

Healers will know that healing is not miraculous but a process full of ups and downs. It begins with a dedication to a principle that may be obstract and that it takes time and it takes several rounds of healing for anything to start to happen.

Healers will have to be stong enough to address the disorders and ignore the symptoms - because in truth, the symptoms are the result of what is wrong with us and that is not what needs to be fixed.

And maybe most importantly, healers need to realize that it is the best interests of the mission instead of the individual that drives the healing. Sometimes you just have to stop trying and go on to the next one in order to keep things moving forward.

I believe that our churches are outwardly inclusive - but it's really, really hard to get much farther than that.

I don't have the answers Pastor Eddie, but I am starting to recognize the questions and for today, I say let's have a beer and talk about how we can start some healing.

Hurry up, the party is about to start.....................