How could we make the place more comfortable for our friends? May be we should start at the hearts.

Sunday morning, 30 minutes left before heading to worship at church. I hope will see Jen again this morning. She's a friend of Jess, who just start coming to our English Speaking worship for the past few weeks. She joined my class for Basic Christianity with three others. It was just wonderfull to be able to spend 30 minutes every week to show her the basic stuff she was seeking for. ("How do we know that there's a creator God, without the Bible?", "What do Christians believe?" "How do we know the Bible is the Word of God?"...) I prayed that I will see her again today. After the class, we often went to Starbucks, then chitchat for another hour or so. Just pure delight.

Jen was moved when "Christian people" like Jess and Will prayed for her. She wants to bring some of her friends over and worship with us. I was impressed, very impressed at the fact that she would want to do that, even though that she were "being new and don't know anybody". And I have been thinking a lot about what Jen said about being new at church...

Recently, this is what I read from the Bible...

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted." Luke 18:9-14

As I read this, I was thinking a lot about the similarity to the modern church situation...

My first observation is that at least the tax collector could enter the temple to pray. How open are our churches toward the people who doesn't feel belong there? We all making sure that the church is accessible to all people, but some how the people who need to be at church just won't go to church. Why did the tax collector go to the temple? "To pray", the text said. But what drove him to that point? Devout Jewish men were expected to go to the temple three times daily to pray (or so, I remember). But it's unreasonable to think that this tax collector was devoted. Perhaps he was there on business (recent scholars suggested that the Sanhedrin were the central tax collection point before they hand it over to the Romans). Or perhaps he was somehow in trouble and just want to pray to get out of it; the typical crisis prayer. From time to time I would see people popped up at our church. People who backslided in ages; sometime a complete stranger. Then the week after they disappear, and I forgot about them. "O well, those flaky people", I thought. As if they intended to stick around in the first place. For the tax collector, I am sure that he wouldn't come to the temple to pray if the doctrine of "God dwells in His temple" were drilled into his mind since his Jewish childhood. He was clearly feeling out of place, "standing far off, would not even look up". If he was in our worship service, he would be sure sitting among the back row, or may be standding in the foyer, and ready to slip out even before the service over. (Note to self: talk to the ushering team about this passage). The Pharisee, on another hand, were at home in the temple. He feel very comfortable there; he may be even grew up there all his life. He knew all about God's requirements, the scripture, the spiritual disciplines, the fast, the tithe, etc. He was set out to live an exemplified life in the midst of corruption, be "the lights of the world and salts of the earth". What interesting in this passage is that the two men never come into direct contact with one another. They both were just praying, directly to God, then leave. There were no hand shakes among the congregation, no introduction of new comers. (Perhaps if there were, things would be even worse). And in this direct relationship with God, the core issues of where they are with God came out in their view of where they are with men. Jesus had nothing to against the religious people who want to be salt and light and even rub the hurtful salt into the wounds of society. (He did that too). What He was against is the attitude of "trusting in themselves that they were righteous, and regarded others with contempt". So, even if we got the church open and accessible to all, even if we got the tax-collectors to come, even if we can get the Pharisee to shut-up from their malice disguised as prayer, even if we can get the congregation genuinely shake hands with the strangers, we still won't get no where if our attitudes were, "O, how pity! We've got to help those sinners!" No, the way Jesus wanted us to do is to realize that they really don't want to be in church in the first place (if it wasn't for God's dwelling), that they were there because God some how drove them there; and most importantly, that we should welcome them as fellow sinners as we gathered together at the foot of the cross. O God, help me to spot all the barriers in church which preventing others to come to you, whether it's environmental or spiritual. Help me to see your work in bringing people home, no matter how far they stand. And help me to lower the heart of the congregation so that we can be a comfortable place for your justification to be seen.