It is not the healthy that need a doctor; I have come for the sick.

I remember the first time I read these words of Jesus; I was sitting on the fountain outside Maucker Union @ UNI. I had come back to school from a few years away and working at a church; I was a bit disgruntled with the ministry and my friends at UNI, as in my absence, there had been a shift towards a more "you have to be reading/doing/memorizing/hanging with these crowds if you take your faith seriously" mindset. Granted, this was my perception, but it was one that colored my experience. I was hesitant to plug in, really reluctant to have someone who had never worked in ministry tell me that I was not doing my faith right, and ready to jump ship on the Christian community as a whole. There was a thing going on at that time called BASIC; it was a Thursday night prayer/praise deal that had about 2000 kids showing up. I went with Kari (we were engaged @ this point), because she loved it. I had my baggage, and really failed to let it speak to me until...I read this verse in Mark. Hello brick between the eyes. I realized that much of what was happening with regard to ministry was not meant to minister to someone who had been walking with Jesus for a while; they were dealing with a whole bunch of new believers that needed some structure with regards to how do to faith stuff until they came to a place where they could start to walk on their own. My pride and ego got in the way of seeing something that God was blessing tremendously.

Think about church in that perspective -- what if what happens on Sunday is not about us at all? What if the songs, language, things that go on are not intended to be what we want them to be, but rather, to be a vehicle in which a) God is glorified for being great, and b) to introduce new believers and those who don't know Him to the greatest gift to humanity, Jesus? What if what happens is not for the 'healthy', those who already know and love Jesus, but for the 'sick', those who really need some healing? Does that change your perspective with regards to some of the things we humans struggle with regarding church? Maybe it should...I know it did for me.