Rambling thoughts

Time to think last night after reading Bart's blog. I think part of our issue as the church is that we misplace our roles and when we do, we cause a lot of issues. In the words of Jack Fogerty--for those old enough to remember--"I may be wrong, but it seems to me that..." we turn folks off in the following ways:

• We judge and try to recreate folks. When we do, we're taking God's role. God is the only one Who has any right to judge us because He's the only one who created us or Who can recreate us. When we judge and try to change people ourselves, we cause resentment and frustration in ourselves and in others.
• We try to save folks. When we do, we're taking Jesus's role. Jesus is our only Savior. For us to try to save folks only serves to bring out arrogance and pride in ourselves and in others.
• We try to be others' consciences. When we do, we're taking on the Holy Spirit's role. The Holy Spirit is the only one who is able to really guide our lives. For us to try to guide each other just causes more stumbling. We don't know what is in each other's heart, nor do we know each other's true purpose. (I guess this comes full circle and leads to the first one again.)

The only thing I see us doing is serving. Serving means that we don't try to find out the reasons why some folks do what they do; we just love them anyway. Serving means that we don't try to find ways to save folks; we just show them the love of the true Savior. Serving doesn't mean that we call each other on the carpet just because we think they should be doing something else with their lives; we just try to do the best we can and pray that, if the Spirit wills, we can mentor others along the way--in best cases, to paraphrase St. Francis, just by living our lives.