Friday, May 21, 2010

Acceptance ???

Mother Theresa said,“The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for and deserted by everybody”


This morning, I read the quote above from Mother Theresa and it definitely got me thinking. I made it as my status on facebook with the following addition:

So, my fb friends, I challenge you today, to make sure that those who come across your path do not have this tragic disease.

Then, I was thinking of it later this morning about the ramifications of the statement in the context of the local church and the local youth ministry setting and I sighed.

For you see, relationships: feeling wanted, feeling loved and feeling accepted; are crucial for individuals and too often, we are too busy with things that don't really matter and the folks who are coming through the door looking for love, acceptance and a sense of belonging leave ....

They leave and when they leave, the feel unwanted, uncared for and deserted and they grab a hold of this feeling and insert it at the end of the sentence; like this:

The church makes me feel unwanted, uncared for and deserted.

They then leave.

We, as a church, need to change this. We, as individuals, also need to have our eyes, ears and hearts open to reach out and love those individuals. In our world today, we should not have folks feeling this way.

Now for me to chew on what ramigications this could have on "ministry".

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