Church business.

     I have friends that LOVE to post horrible news stories about churches flat out being evil. 90% of the time I completely agree with them and repost their news stories with an all caps, "CHRISTIANS, WE NEED TO FIX THIS!!!" But, before I hit the share button, I always dig a little deeper to find out what was happening. As I said, 90% of the time, I find out my friends are absolutely correct to post as they did. Recently I found one of those 10% where the church went back and is trying to fix it.
    I sat down at my computer to be greeted with this headline in my timeline. "Church sues homeless teen over $2.25 worth of cookies." I read about how a homeless teen had wondered in, found a tray of cookies in the kitchen, ate some of them from starvation, and left. The church then pressed charges. I was AGHAST. I was ready to fly to California and give this church a SOLID piece of my mind. UNTIL I went to the church's website to verify any of this. I found this statement, “On the afternoon of June 29, 2014 a young man entered our church building, triggering the security alarm.  As a result he was charged with burglary, but the charges were dropped on July 22 following an unrelated arrest.  At the time, we had no indication he was homeless.  Our church family is reaching out to the young man and his family.”
    Well, that changes it quite a bit! I see in my mind's eye a bleary eyed pastor that is awoken by the ringing phone and a security service saying that his church had been burgled. He calls the police in to check it out. As you see, as soon as they found out the entirety of the situation, they dropped the charges and started doing what all churches should do, help the young man and his family.
    We have a tough job to do. Many times, we make mistakes. I fail often at understanding the entirety of the situation. I judge and condemn before I have all the information.  I am called to be the church I want to see and I want to attend. I want the homeless teens to find our outer foyer doors unlocked and the foyer space filled with sandwiches, cookies and waters. I want to be the place that donates blankets to homeless shelters and does grocery drives. The change has to start with me and this must be a priority. Otherwise, I have not love and am nothing but a clanging gong or rhythmless cymbal.