If You Need Prayer To Enter The Church Doors

I’m praying that as you enter church doors for the first time or the hundredth time, your anxiety is calmed. Whether you come to church often or it’s not your usual place to come, I pray that you feel hope. I pray that you know that Jesus has never forgotten about you; He is incapable of forgetting you.  He knows every tear you’ve ever cried from memories, exhaustion, physical pain, emotional pain or a pain so deep that you can’t even name it.  

I pray that you feel welcomed and not judged because sometimes you feel judged whether people are doing it or not. Father, strip all of that away!  

Come as you are however you're hurt, no matter how mad you are.  Bring all of your addictions, all of your hatred, all of your love, all of your bitterness toward people/God/the church/Christians, all of your preconceived notions, all of your questions, all of your doubts, all of your numbness, all of your pain, all of your pride and know that we aren’t scared of it. God is not scared of it, nor is He surprised by it. We don’t reject those feelings, we accept them as valid.  We even encourage you to speak them. 

We will never turn you away because of the baggage you clutch in your hands as you walk in the doors because the truth is, we all carry it in. We want YOU, not an idea of what you should be like.  We're all messed up, and we all have amazing traits that are needed in the body of Christ, and we are committed to mash them all together and love you anyway.  

We don't just want you, we need you.  We need your talents and your purpose to work alongside ours.  We need your input and your open arms and your insight on things that just may change the way we see Jesus.  Even if you don't think it's in you. We believe it is.  

We have an amazing, diverse church family in Celebration Church and it doesn’t stop there.  There are churches all over this area (all over America, all over the world) that just canNOT wait to meet you (again), love on you, and bare their souls to you so that you can eventually bare yours.  

Come running, come as you are, come wearing whatever you want and be engulfed by a love so big you just might laugh or cry, just come.  Give us a(nother) chance. Give my Father a chance to speak to you while you’re in a big group of people who are inviting Him in. Maybe it’ll be easier for you with us all together.   

Come and give hope a chance...sit by me.  I'll be the one worshiping with a ton of baggage, but with my hands raised high anyway. Hands lifted high in spite of and because of that baggage. If I have to open my hands and raise my arms in surrender as a symbol of letting that go EVERY DAY, I will.  

We have no expectation of you. We just want to see your face and accept you how you are right now.  I pray that you find a church full of people that are ready to love because He first loved us. 

If you can't come as you are or even come at all? That's ok. 

I’m also praying for the people who just can’t.  Can’t come, can’t surrender, can’t accept love, can’t give love one more time, can’t forgive, can’t walk, can’t feel... It's ok. We understand those feelings because we’ve all felt something like them. 

I pray that outside of the church walls--where we are most of the time--that we are kind to you. That you know us by our love and not by our title.  That we show grace in action and aren’t jerks. That we listen to you, that we are kind even (especially) when we disagree.  My love for you is not dependent on your agreement with me. 

I pray, Jesus, remove our need to be right and help us love without condition. No one needs to be led to love, we are directed to do it. No ugly judgement.