If I Were a Pastor

If I were a pastor, I’d create a church that reflected its community. It wouldn’t matter what our meeting space looked like. It wouldn’t even matter if we had a permanent meeting space at all. Sometimes church buildings tend to make certain people uneasy. Some people have become conditioned through personal experience to view a church building as a place where the pious people meet. They’ve gone into these buildings and felt the judgmental stares burning into the back of their heads. They could almost hear the whispers of “what’s he doing here?” or, “this is the last place I’d expect to see her.” My church would have a feel that might make veteran church folk feel uneasy. I think churches make some people feel too comfortable because they are always among people of like minds. In my church, diversity of perspective and thought would be the norm, not the outlier.

If I were a pastor, nobody would ever hear a word about divisive political issues coming from my mouth. I know what it feels like to sit in a church pew and hear messages that make me feel less than for supporting the politicians and policies I agree with. I would never want anyone to feel that way in my church.

If I were a pastor, my messages would focus on the teachings of Jesus. For the most part, that message is very clear and straight forward, unlike much of the rest of the Bible, which has been translated to death and twisted to vilify the marginalized people of the world—the very kinds of people that Jesus was drawn to the most. The thing that is central to the teachings of Jesus—the message that simply can’t be missed if you read what he said—is love. He stressed it over and over. He made it abundantly clear that we are to love above all else; that we are to love EVERYBODY just as we love ourselves. This was front and center during Jesus’ entire ministry. If Jesus was that fixated on that message, why aren’t more pastors? If I were a pastor, that’s what I would be fixated on.

If I were a pastor, I wouldn’t label sins. Jesus made it clear that sin is sin. I’ve seen what happens to people when people who are perceived to be living in some particular kind of “sin” (again, we can go back to that long history of translating the Bible to fit political agendas when we dip our toes into these waters) are made to sweat and squirm in their pew while nobody else in the sanctuary feels so convicted. The damage done by singling out sins to belittle those seen as “other” cannot be overstated.

If I were a pastor, I’d create a community that did things. We’d reach out into the community instead of turning inward and blocking it out. We wouldn’t collect money to build fancy things for our beautiful facilities, we’d take money and put it out in the communities where it would reach those people we are called to love. And we wouldn’t just throw money at problems, we’d throw ourselves in with it.

I’m pretty sure that’s what Jesus would do.

Please enjoy a song I wrote about this message by clicking below.

Jesus Said to Love Them