"The Church"

A reason I've heard for people justifying their disconnection with and repulsion of "the Church" and not wanting to be a part of it is: "I've been burned by 'the Church'."
Unfortunately, I think these victims have been mislead in what "the Church" actually is and my hope to all these lonely souls is that they would realize "the Church" not only is the body of Christ consisting of human believers but also sinful by nature, therefore flawed and bound to screw up. Enter Grace and Forgiveness. (Now would be a good time to read Ray Miller's blog post on said topics inspired by Rachel Getting Married.)
I do not blame anyone who has used this line and must say I identify with you often if this is you. Why be a part of something if this is the representation? (I will refrain from offering examples as I feel this would be unnecessary and hypocritical.) Instead of offering blame; I issue a challenge to both parties and include myself as I find myself on both sides.

Challenge to "the Burned": We all mess up. We all have weak moments, no matter the strength of the weakness. Let us pray that God would remind us of our own weak moments when we are prepared to judge someone else's that we may be humbled enough to forgive their idiocies as they will very soon be forgiving ours. Let us be gracious to each other and quick to offer embrace.

Challenge to "the Church": We are "the Church". We are the representation. It is our responsibility to bring heaven to earth. We do that by loving orphans and widows (James 1:27) and offering our coat when someone asks for our shirt (Matthew 6:40). Heaven happens because we have become less and God becomes greater (John 3:30) through action and thought. These things take choices- mind you, I'm not referring to self deprecation; that is a whole other issue. As "the Church" let us be honest with ourselves and each other that we may see ourselves, each other and God for who we all truly are. Let us be gracious to each other and quick to offer embrace.

In closing, the picture below was taken on my walk this morning and is actually the inspiration for this post. It is a humorous reminder to "the Church" to be honest and reminder to everyone else that "the Church" is made up of humans.