I saw a huge sign on the front lawn of a big church, a church seeking to grow in innovative ways. But right under it, in type too big to miss, was printed the schedule for making confessions at the church. Another church sign here in the city described a series of lectures. The topic for the week was Eternal Damnation. What was the message there, I wonder.
Some churches get even more explicit.
A member of our congregation visited a cathedral in Europe. We often hope that the church will speak the words of that loving parent in this story. You'll have to earn your right to be here. How different is Jesus' parable, where the father expresses his welcome with nothing more or less than an invitation to a party. Too often our needs for healing in our relationship to the church come from the fact that the church has imagined itself, or has been imagined, occupying a place that only God can fill.