prostitute vs. church usher

She was a prostitute.This one night,she got raped by a man who did not pay her,of course she is “just a prostitute”  so what?He must have thought.She was traumatized.She was hurt.She was broken and she decided that come sunrise,she would go to church and give her life to Jesus.Sunrise came and the first church she saw,she went in.Dressed in tight trousers,a top and a jacket,she went in.A broken spirit in need of healing.A lost soul in search of meaning.She went to the one place she believed she would be accepted and taken in with no qualms.The one place she thought she could be taken in just as she was.Maybe remembering a song from her high school days ‘come just as you are…’ And she went as she was. She met an usher at the door.Who saw her and passed judgement on her and that blocked her from doing that which Christ commissioned His followers to do.To go out to the world and make disciples of Him.She told the prostitute she could not be let into the church dressed as she was.Then she asked the usher to pray for her.All she wanted was someone to lead her to this Christ who she had always heard is full of love and mercy and grace and that he came to seek and save the lost.The Christ who is full of compassion.She wanted to meet this Christ,the one man she had heard would never take advantage of her.The one man who delights in loving her.That is what she had heard being preached and she had gotten to the point where she wanted to meet Him and get to be given beauty for ashes.Get to be restored and made whole.Get to be given a new identity.She hoped for this,i think and more but what did the ‘christian’ do,she shunned her away.told her she did not belong.

The prostitute asked the usher then to pray for her.She did not want to be a member.She just wanted someone to lead her to this man she had heard so much about who would give her peace and rest for her weary soul.But instead she received coldness.she was told she did not belong.not anything knew to her i assume as prostitutes are not looked upon very kindly.do you know the kind of blow you feel when you go to someone who is supposed to protect you or something and they end up doing the exact opposite?this woman must have been crashed.she must have hit rock bottom;felt the ground give way beneath her.it must have been a pain so deep,she probably locked the idea of salvation from her mind altogether.a rejection too much…

i heard this story and it pierced through me like a knife stab. We as Christians have forgotten what the message of Jesus was.He came to preach love and grace.But we are the 21st century pharisees.thinking so highly of ourselves and so lowly of everyone else.bragging about how we are keeping the law,that which Jesus came to break,and not knowing anything about the love,the agape love;the unconditional love that he came to bring.he dwelt with the outcasts;those that were termed sinners.those were his favorite company and i find myself asking,how can we;what right do we have of denying one a meeting with the Savior?it begs the question,then why do we have churches?We are to be like the hospital for the lost and wounded souls,but what are we instead?are we really playing our part as the bride of Christ?

I echo the prayer of the woman who told me this story.That God not let her die before she gets a chance to know Him personally.And I seek that God forgive us,so called Christians,for leaving His path and idea of what His church is to be like and instead,coming up with our own ideas that end up with all these rules and regulations that in turn end up blocking people from getting to know the Lord.May He sincerely forgive us Christians,for our hypocrisy,of preaching water and drinking wine.May He indeed forgive us.

MB

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