Apologies all around to those who expect to see a post from me at least once a week!
In fact, I like to post something at least a couple of times a week, but this is my first post in exactly two weeks. No excuses other than just got too busy!
Who goes to the hospital? Those who know they are not well. Those who are sick. 
Other than the medical staff, other employees, and visitors, the healthy folk generally try to avoid hospitals. Jesus said that He did not come for the healthy, but for those who knew they were unhealthy and needed help.
That leads me to think that churches should be very open to those who know they are spiritually unhealthy. So why is it that we often find church to be a place where it is not okay to be anything less than perfect?
“The Church must be a place where it is okay not to be okay. The culture of the Church needs to be a safe place for the weary, weak, and wobbly. Of all places, we should welcome those who are honest about their burdens, frustrations, and pitfalls. Our people cannot be honest about their shortcomings in the marketplace. The Church provides the release valve of grace that we all desperately need, leadership included.
“It is far too common for the church to expend precious energies masquerading and upholding images rather than walking in transparency and authenticity. Ministry is messy because life is messy, and nobody is excluded from the mess. If it is not okay not to be okay in a church, then what are we doing? Where is the gospel? The hope we have in Christ is that it is okay not to be okay, but that He is leading us to greater levels of health and maturity.”
(‘Creature of the Word’ by Matt Chandler)
We are all… not okay.
We are all… not healthy.
We are all… in need of a Great Physician.
And yet… we try to hide this truth from one another so often… even at church.
Let us always remember that “The church…is a hospital in which nobody is completely well, and anyone can relapse at any time” (J.I. Packer).
Let us have grace for one another in our sickness, longing for the day of wholeness from the touch of God’s healing hand.
