Stained Glass ... nice carpet ... padded pews for the asses who sit ... comprised mostly of homogeneous people disliking others unlike them ... a clothes loving sort ... with immaculate music ... plenty of parking ... and popular preachers.
Radicalism in today's Church means you dress casual ... with creases of course.
What a load of crock!
Yet ... here I am ... in a Church!
For my literal Church friends, I'm not exactly in a Church ... but a Bar ... where we gather to worship bringing mostly our sins because ... it's all we really got.
We bring food too.
We can't afford to give money so it's Deviled Eggs (okay if you don't find that funny you're probably dead but nobody's told you yet) ... biscuits and sausage gravy ... left over wedding cake ... fruit ... and mixers.
I'm not saying people who come to Bar Church don't drink ... or haven't been ... or will soon ... just that it's not publically ... or legally tolerated when we gather.
Though there are numerous requests to turn water into wine because most attendees can't afford a bottle.
And I'm the pastor ... as my wife says ... though I'm nothing of the sort.
I was a "Professional Christian" earlier in life ... getting paid to love while asking others to do it for free ... AND TO PAY DUES to the Church ... but they kicked me out when I wasn't all that great a Christian in the first place.
Not only did I sin a lot but ... as a writer and story teller ... I told everybody!
I never read the Job Description's admonition to "keep your sins to yourself" while "calling out others on theirs."
Regardless ... I'm the sinner in charge of Bar Church ... mostly comprised of other sinners ... a people who redefine dress causal to wrinkled tee shirts, jams and flip flops ... we're so poor we can't afford to pay attention ... so we don't.
Well ... unless you take the part about not judging others seriously ... there's not a lot of judgment at Bar Church ... because we've all been the plaintiff.
We're pretty good at not judging.
So if you've had as much as you can stand and need to leave in the middle of a service ... because you need a smoke, the Deviled Eggs are gone and the music sucks ... it's alright.
Thanks for not pulling a Jesus and turning the Pool Tables Over.
It's a nice enough Church without a building, Hymn books or dress code.
I like enough to keep going.
The sinners like me enough to keep welcoming me as one of their own.
I think when all's said and done ... that's really what Church is after all.
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If you care to help, you can find Bar Church at www.gofundme.com/tybeebarchurch
Thank you and Happy Christmas!
