The following is a link to an article forwarded to me by a colleague, Kara, available on Unionleader.com entitled "Church asks mom, disabled child to leave." Please read the article and the comments.
The first question you must ask, is why this would be considered newsworthy? I think it's the old dog bites man is not a story, man bites dog is a story. Church is kind to the disabled would not be a story (that is what would be expected) but "church asks mom, disabled child to leave" is a story even to secular people, because it is not what you would expect from a church. Even a secular newspaper/website has sufficient understanding of the Christian faith to know that that shouldn't happen. Why are Christians themselves so slow to understand? Why are church leaders so slow to understand?
But I would refer you to the comments made by people in response to the article and there are many. Interesting to see the defensiveness at times and the outrage at what is deemed unChrisitan behavior.
If they only knew...
McNair
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4 comments:
Perhaps we should send the pastor a copy of the sermon Worship With All of God's Children. Do you think he would even read it?
I actually have mixed feelings on that one.
We once attended a Sunday morning service at Andy Stanley's church down in Atlanta. He stopped the sermon and asked the mother of a crying baby to take the baby out, because the noise was giving him trouble concentrating!
I can see both sides of the issue, and almost think you have to be present to judge who was in the wrong.
We do not want our son to keep other people from worshipping, but there is a balance. Both sides need to be flexible.
Julana,
I can understand your having mixed feelings over this issue; sometimes we want our church experience to be peaceful and quiet.
Plese consider these thoughts as you meditate on the issue.Jesus had his special places he went to "often" to pray and be alone with the Father; He was always up and gone to pray while the disciples were still wiping the sleepfrom their eyes. I might suggest a quiet room in your home or a corner of the backyard for that sort of devotional experience.
The church is meant to be community and Jesus invited all to become members of the Christian community. It is really a simple idea: In the local church either all are welcomed or they are not. If not all are welcome then the local church is in disobedience and needs correction.
Mark,
That's an interesting perspective. I don't know if I agree with it or not, but would be interested in seeing a discussion of pros and cons on it. We've been attending a large Vineyard church, where my son can be present during the singing but not the teaching, without fear of being asked to leave.
(The only place we've ever been asked to leave was a planetarium, during a show that about six people attended, in a room big enough for probably 200!)
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