Maybe It’s Time to Try Church Again

I really love the start of a new year!
In the days and weeks before the new year starts I take time to think back over the year.  It is a great reminder to stop and evaluate – how has the year been?  Where have you seen growth?  What are good things to remember?  How has God provided or taken care of you? It is good to remember and celebrate the good.
Of course not all of the memories from the year are great!  There are sad memories, bad memories and plenty of failures and falls. But that’s OK, because the new year is like a fresh new start.
A do over. 
As we start 2020 I want to ask you for a do over and maybe extend to you a do over.

My ask.  Would you give church another try?
I remember a time growing up when my parents were hurt by how our church failed in responding to a hard loss in our family.  As I remember, the hurt was really deep and there were many tears.  It seems that it wasn’t long after that hurt that we searched for another church and while my parents remained “active” in the new church, they didn’t seem to be nearly as connected. 
I remember as a new believer at 25 being asked to share with the deacons of our church some ideas I had about feeding the homeless.  It was really just giving away the left over food from Wednesday night church dinners.  To my surprise there was stiff resistance to the idea.  As if that wasn’t painful enough, one of the “respected” church leaders asked a question that wrecked me.  “What if those people want to start coming to our church?”  The only thing I remember after that was driving home from church uncontrollably sobbing. 
Sometimes church people fail.
Sometimes church people are wrong.
Sometimes church people hurt others.
That is not the way it is supposed to be. Yet it is. 
It is, because church people are people and people are fallen and broken.  It is because even the most well-intentioned people still have bad days and make terrible mistakes. 
The truth is that we all fail.  The truth is, that in some relationship, somewhere… you have failed.  Maybe it’s time to extend grace to the church, the same grace to the church that you would like extended to you when you fail.
On behalf of the church I want to ask for your forgiveness.  Forgive us, the church for failing.  Forgive us the church, for hurting you or someone you love. Forgive us for not being the hands and feet – the presence of Jesus that we should be… and give us another try.
I can’t promise you that we won’t fail you; the fact is, we likely will.  I can promise you that as a whole, our desire at New City is NOT to fail you.  Our desire is to be the body of Christ present in a hurting, fallen, needy world. Our desire is to live like family, brothers and sisters who truly love one another, care for one another, serve one another and walk with one another – celebrating the good and mourning the bad, together.  We understand your fear and skepticism.  Many of us have been right where you are! 

Maybe it isn’t that you feel that church failed you.
Maybe you feel that it is you who failed the church, who failed Jesus.
I understand.  I haven’t always been a pastor.
I grew up in church.  I remember walking the isle in the 5th grade.  I remember my baptism. 
And I remember high school and college. 
I remember reaching a point where I thought it was time for me to give God another try.  Because of my years away from church and because of the way I lived and the things I had done, I felt that there was no way I could come back, at least not without a lot of good works and some sort of penance.  I remember trying hard to do good and be good hoping that I could earn my way back – back to church, back to acceptance, back to God.
Maybe that’s you.
Maybe you think that you are so far down the wrong road, that church has no place for you. Maybe you look at the people in church and think that you could never compare. So you have either given up all together on church or you are working to be good enough for a return.
I have some good news for you – you can stop working and stop worrying! 
Church isn’t for perfect people.  Church is for those who recognize they are not perfect but find hope in the perfection, grace and forgiveness of Jesus. 
One day, as I was trying to work my way back to good standing and into the church, the truth of the gospel became real to me.  It was life changing.  I saw the cross for the first time.  I saw the truth that Jesus died for my sins and my hope wasn’t in getting better or what I could do, but in who he was and what he had done.  He wasn’t waiting on me to get it all together, he did all of that for me. 
And he had a place for me in his family!
We are reminded of this good news regularly at New City – that the good news of the gospel isn’t about what we do to get right with him, but about what he has done in his life, death and resurrection to forgive us, save us and make us his own. 
Jesus came for people just like you and me.
And dare I say, we are the church.
Forgive us, the church, if we have not been clear on that.  Forgive us, the church if we have made the gospel about us and not about Jesus.  Forgive us, the church if we have led you to believe that we are better than you or that you are somehow less than us.  We are fallen, broken people who love Jesus.  We would love to have it all together, but we don’t.
Would you give us another try, the church? 
Would you let us show you that there is a place for you in the family? 
Would you accept the beautiful grace that Jesus extends to you?

It’s a new year.
No maybe.  It’s time to try church again.
We have a place for you here.  And if not here, we would be happy to find the place.