Naked Before God: “But I’ve been hurt by church!”

It wouldn’t be an easy thing to do; to be “naked before God in community” if we’ve been hurt by church in some way. Sadly, such damage is more common then many would like to think about.

An unpleasant scene, an unkind remark, a slight, an insulting comment, an affair, a come-on… even worse, a child abuse memory. Of course, there are many more possibilities, any one of which may make such openness almost impossible for some of us. Take heart however, with God, all things are possible.

To be fair, any time you bring a group of people together, there will be mistakes made including ill-tempered comments, gaffes, misunderstandings and so on, including jokes that miss the mark. The larger the group, the more likely that there will be someone who is just a really nasty person who is simply miserable to be around, but in cases like that…