What Is This Place?

What a funny mix of people.
A businessman alone because of divorce
His wife left and took the kids.
A young man in his early twenties
Covered in gauges and tattoos.
A handful of women with children
No wedding bands on their fingers
Or married with no man to speak of.
A young woman who used her beauty
To earn her wretched living.
What a funny mix of people.
A young man, smart and amiable to the world,
But addicted to porn and violence.
A young woman who smiles and sings,
But hides her self-inflicted scars.
An older man with drug history.
An older woman with no apparent reason to live.
What a funny mix of people.
They're all together.
And they're all singing in joy.
At the tops of their lungs.
Swaying, almost dancing.
What has come over them?
What is this place?
That they should gather,
So different and become as one?
All of them sick, hurt, needing.
Everyone has something to hide.
Everyone has a past, a regret.
All of them not trying to be righteous.
Not trying to be good.
Accepting their wrongs.
And taking forgiveness and healing.
They are all broken and lost.
And they see that and rise up.
What is this place?
All these people, all these sad stories.
But they have begun to truly live.
Their spirits were freed.
Their lives start anew.
What is this place?
Is this a hospital that there is healing?
Is this a home where all are welcome?
Is this a barracks where they are as one?
Yes.
And no.
These people are not religious.
They may or may not meet in a building.
But they recognize sin
And they recognize forgiveness.
They recognize where the true Love resides.
They recognize the King who came to end religion.
Faith and joy fill them.
They begin again.
What is this place?
This is the Church.


"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28