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Hi there, Your friend would like to invite you to check this information out from Church Simplified: <blockquote> The Church is a whore, but she is my mother. – St. Augustine of Hippo </blockquote> I’ve been involved in Church work for my entire life. When I was a kid, aside from religious obligations like Mass, I would tag along with my parents on their mission work every week. When I became a teenager, I realized I wanted to serve God and others as a career. So eventually I became a fulltime mission worker. It was a wonderfully reckless career path with no prospect of ever getting rich. I felt like a true rebel, the epitome of a non-conformist. God would be my reward – not women, money or power. It all felt very dangerous, the way I wanted to be. I was truly happy and content. Such was the case for over a decade. But one day, it all blew up in my face. A series of bad experiences among people within the Church spurred my doubts. So I grew sick and tired of the whole idea of being involved in a Church community. I never doubted my love for Jesus; but I guess the lifestyle just wore me down. It wasn’t Jesus who was the problem. It was His followers and their crazy little rituals, their odd practices, their boring events and awkward jargon that pissed me off. Most of all, it was peoples’ hypocrisy. I was sick of people preaching Jesus, and yet acting very un-Christlike – at least in my opinion. And I wasn’t alone! Over the years, I had met many people who told me that “the Church is full of hypocrites.” Some were quite militant about this idea; and I never thought I’d be one of them. This idea – of hypocrisy in the Church – served as their guiding light away from the epicenter of Church life. This idea continues to lead many out the doors of parishes and sanctuaries, or at best to the very margins – the back pews and doorways – where they can observe at a safe distance and make a quick getaway right after communion, or before the final song ends. I never thought I would join that club. The group of people at the margins who had issues with Catholicism, or Christianity or anybody who claimed a special “relationship” with Jesus. But I did. I joined the club. After all, I was burned by people in my Church community. I had an excuse. The Church deserved my disdain and lack of participation. I wish I could tell you that I found peace this way. But I didn’t. There was a series of events that convinced me I needed to remain attached to the Church in some way. And one piece in that complicated puzzle was that quote by St Augustine: “The Church is a whore, but she is my mother.” The phrase haunted me. And so I ruminated on it. Let it sink in. Swished it around my mouth attempting to taste the finer aspects of its flavor. It was at first a bitter taste; but it was eventually one that I acquired because it was a real and true flavor. Yes, it was true. Sometimes truth is an acquired taste because we struggle to get over our bias and prejudice. To be candid, I had no problems with seeing the Church as a whore. After a lifetime of being deeply involved in it, I was aware of her many flaws. But to see her as an inescapable part of my heritage and future – my mother?! – that was a tough pill to swallow. What about all those jerks who used faith to justify the abuse of innocent people? What about sex-offending priests and greedy pastors? What about stuck up, close-minded leadership? What about hypocrites and spiritual fakes? It seemed like too much for me to put faith in. But I felt as though God wanted me to do just that: have a little faith in people, in the collective Church, with all its flaws and failings. In doing this, I began to come to grips with the reality that I was not free from guilt, either. I had my own list of sins I had committed in the name of faith and it would have been further hypocrisy to deny it. Augustine’s view doesn’t condone the bad behavior of the so-called faithful, no. But it does speak of God’s commitment to humanity in spite of their behavior. For sure, God does not excuse sin. But His persistent kindness moves us to consider change. It’s the mystery of iniquity that where sin is, love has the greatest opportunity to shine. And so I’m trying to embrace the double-edged sword that is the Church. I’m trying to dance with this woman of mystery that she is. Yes, we are a flawed, messed up group replete with hypocrites and sinners. We don’t even agree on theology all the time. But yes, Christ is crazy about the Church, so much so that throughout Scripture His main point is that He wants to marry us. It feels weird to think of things this way, but it’s all over the Bible. From beginning to middle to end, the analogy of marriage is repeated time and again by the various authors of scripture as if to say that this is the big point: <h4 style="text-align:center;">God loves the Church as a man loves a woman He wishes to marry. He will do anything for her; even give His life just so they can be one. She is his beloved.</h4> Now, if God is so crazy about the Church, slutty and sinful as she is, maybe – just maybe – we could consider giving her a chance. Perhaps if we accepted the reality that the Church is flawed, we’d stop expecting perfection from it. We could forgive others and ourselves. And we could love the Church for what it is: a band of imperfect sinners struggling to get to heaven, together. About the writer <blockquote> Kiddo Cosio is a professional editor, compulsive songwriter, ex-missionary and newbie husband. He and his wife Amy are expecting their first baby, Cadence. When they aren’t juggling married life and work, you’ll probably find them at the beach trying to catch as many waves as they can. Visit them online at <a href="http://iseegodinthat.tumblr.com">http://iseegodinthat.tumblr.com</a>. </blockquote> Credit <blockquote> Our In Study feature front image is Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Salon at the Rue des Moulins (1894). </blockquote>http://churchsimplified.com/in_study/post/holy_whore/

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