Hands & Feet

How many times have you heard the saying "To be the hands and feet of Jesus"

How many songs is it written in?

Now how many times have you or I actually taken the effort to make it happen.

The other day I was driving with an acquaintance, and we got on the subject of exclusivity. We were talking about church of course. In the past 15 years I have gone to 5 different churches (on a somewhat regular base), and visited way too many to count. In those years I think of all the exclusivity that went on with each church. Now if was a majority Caucasian church I won't lie they were pretty open, and welcoming, but if it was a minority church my brother and I weren't so lucky. After service he and I would stand in the corner while mom and dad talked to aunties and uncles. We hated visiting certain (ethnic group) churches with them, but there was one Indian church that actually left an impression on my life. To this day I can't recall the name of the church or of the girl who left this impression, but because of her I do certain things differently now. As usual my parents were gallivanting around talking to everyone while my brother and I stood aside wondering when this ordeal will be over. Under our breathe we kept telling each other how much we disliked situation like this when our parents dragged us to minority churches where no one even so much as said "hello" to us. As we stood there we were approached by a young lady a few years older than me, and she smiled so big it made me feel a little better. She introduced her and asked us about ourselves. That in itself was a huge ice breaker now the next step wasn't necessary nor were we expecting it. She called over all her friends within our age group and started introducing my brother and I to them. You see she could have just introduced herself been nice and moved on with her life, but she made sure she went beyond just being "nice". Because she did just that I made sure I started to do that myself. I would have never met my now famous "ex-husband" (not really married) Brice had it not been for that act. Brice came to visit the Indian church I was attending at the time. All the females I hung out with were just gushing over how cute he was. After service I told them well go talk to him, but none of them wanted too. I looked over at Brice and he had a look on his face that I knew all too well. Without a bit of hesitation I walked over to him and introduced myself, because I knew exactly what it felt like to come to a church where you knew nothing or no body. After a few mins the rest of the ladies walked over, and I introduced them to him. Though we don't talk every week like we used too, or text each other as often as we used too the reason I know him today is because I decided to extend the same hand that was extended to me. To this day because of that girl I make it a point to either smile or say hello to anyone I see at church that I have not seen around before. Unfortunately to this day the very people that say they want to be the hands and feet of Christ still hold on to their exclusivity. For example; the church I currently attend. I love my church dearly, but I remember when I first came there no one in my age group so much as looked my way. I would come to church sit in the back pew and go home. Six years later I'm not going to lie I still feel the exclusivity. Now I know people, but really that's the end of the it. So many times it has taken much prayer for me not to leave, and go to a church where I did feel like people were more open to me (but I digress)

The one thing I've learned (recently) is that when you are the hands and feet of Christ you have to put yourself in a position that would possibly make you uncomfortable. That means you have to reach out, and bring people into your circle. UNFORTUNATELY I've also learned in the last couple of years that most people already have their circle, and it's very rare for them to let any one else in (Oh GOD it's high school all over again!!!). The truth of the matter is a lot of people feel justified in how they treat this situation. They say "well I'm not the type of person to really reach out". Neither am I *points to self*. But then who's going to do it? If you and I don't....who's going to be that CITY ON THE HILL??