“Woe to you, leaders of the church, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." Matthew 23:13
Just a reminder that erecting barriers to grace—closing the door of our churches in the face of any person, and we do this in all sorts of ways—is a serious sin.
People can tell if our *disposition* toward them is not one of genuine invitation and unconditional regard. They can hear "this is not your house" in our words and tone. They can see it in our eyes. They can tell when we stop listening with an open heart to their experiences.
The unwelcome vibe we give off can only be converted to one of love when we recognize that God has already *acted* and that these actions have related every person to God in two irrevocable ways:
God is the creator—the fashioner—of every person. He loves them not less than human parents love their children but in the same way God loves himself and all things! There is no degree or measure in God's love.
God in Jesus Christ has become human, taken on flesh and contingency and pain and hunger and loneliness and anguish and the entire human condition. In Jesus Christ God is the human brother of every other human.
So God is their creator and God is their brother.
This is the Christian's orientation toward all including those who approach the church. God has acted already to relate himself to this person. They belong as much as we do. Theirs is the kingdom.
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