Just "us"

To the addict.

To the murderer.

To the divorced.

To the homosexual.

To the promiscuous.

To the thief.

To all the marginalized. 

Forgotten. 

or Condemned.

You are raw, vulnerable, and exposed.

Every hidden intent and action laid bare for all to see. 

Your mistakes, inadequacies, and misfortunes all held against you. 

You receive pointing fingers, malicious whispers, calloused judgments.

You’re tossed aside again and again by those that deemed themselves “good” or “worthy”.

I am just like you.

I am no better. 

If I am better at anything, its hiding. 

Just like the rest of us. 

Because we are all the same.

All broken in our own ways.

And the Truth is, I need you.

I need you to be a better version of myself.

A more honest version of myself.

Without you, I am stuck in my own false race of approval seeking and image keeping.

In your presence, I feel my own vulnerabilities.

I feel my own fragility as a human being.

I feel connected.

myself.

Home.

And maybe that’s why Christ seated Himself amongst the Humble.

Maybe He felt Home. 

My most vivid moments of Heaven on Earth have been seated across from those that are marginalized. 

I wonder how the Church would look if those that are marginalized had more of a voice.

Maybe we would all be a little more authentic. 

Maybe we would be able to confront more honestly our own demons.

Maybe we would realize that there really isn’t many difference between us after all.

Because the Truth is, the Root of our brokenness is pain. 

And all of us experience pain. 

And all of use seek to mend and stifle that pain in different ways.

I’m a therapist. 

I listen to people and their stories.

I get paid to listen.

But not just to their words.

I get to listen to their hearts

And I have yet to find a bad one.

Their hearts are the rawest, most authentic parts of themselves.

It openly reveals their intentions, and most of the time, that intention was to be good.

Most of them talk of how they feel ashamed and isolated. 

How they have been labeled “bad” and they struggle to not believe it.

They speak of the humiliation they have received amongst “Christians” and “the Church”. 

I cringe.

For I have felt similar things.

We keep tallies and measuring sticks in our back pockets at all times to ensure our “goodness”. 

If we are not like “them", if we have no done “that”...

then we are in.

“Us vs them”

Separation. 

Isolation. 

Not just from each other. 

But from ourselves.

The further we push “them” away, the deeper our callouses form. 

For there really is no “us” or “them”.

But just people.

Our Fathers.

Our Daughters.

Our Mothers.

And Our sons.