Ministry Is...[2]

...Open 24 hours.

We have a Hucks gas station around the corner from our house, and it says in big painted letters on the side of the building "OPEN 24 HOURS".  So one night shortly after we moved to the area I went to Hucks in the middle of the night.  I don't remember why I was out so late, or what was so important that I drove the 2 blocks to the station.  What I do remember is that when I got there they were closed.  Lights were on, the employee was inside, but doors were locked.  A sign taped on the door said "Closed from 1-2 am for accounting".  Imagine my surprise.  Could it be that Hucks meant to paint "OPEN 23 HOURS" on the side of their building?  I don't think so.  I'm pretty certain that they wanted to advertise they are open 24 hours, knowing full-well they intend to close for one hour every night.  What if I desperately needed something from Hucks at 1:02 am?  What if it were life and death?

I remember when I was about 15 years old and I woke up with the most excruciating pain in my head.  I felt like the entire world was echoing in my skull and just screamed hysterically through our very quiet house.  My mom being a nurse practitioner knew immediately what was wrong.  A bug had crawled into my ear and was playing marching band on my ear drum.  She put oil in it to kill it and then we piled into the car and headed to the ER.  About 45 minutes later, we stumbled sleepily into their doors in PJs and flip-flops and it was as if they were waiting for us.  A nice receptionist waiting behind a desk with crisp white papers waiting to be signed, bright lights lit every corner, smiling doctors and nurses.  They went right to work.

Now what would have happened had the ER kept hours like Hucks?  Well, I would have had to live with the bug in my ear until Mom could fish it out, but some scenarios would not end so nicely.  

In my morning devotional The Chosen by Dwight K Nelson I read something along these lines yesterday.  The author compared church to an ER, and it really hit home with me.  Our churches should be centers for healing.  Sanctuaries, houses of prayer, pretty buildings, and hospitals!  Jesus was the Healer, and he expects us to heal the broken hearts that he sends our way, exactly as they come.  The staff at the local ER was not the least bit surprised when I showed up in the middle of the night in my PJs--no more than any one would be surprised to walk into an ER and see crying babies, runny noses, blood, vomit, stinky air, and high tension to top it off.  These are things we expect to see in an ER when we walk in, because people come to it broken and sick. 

So why does it seem churches expect people to walk in off the street as if they aren't broken and sick, in need of a healer?  We'd just rather they come in and walk straight up to the podium in khakis and polo, grab a guitar and sing praises.  Am I right?  But that isn't how people find us.  Some people may wander into church with unkempt hair, they may smell like alcohol or have drugs in their system.  They may be angry, hurting.  They may not have a penny to their names.  Yet Jesus expects us to meet them at the door with a bright smile just like the receptionist at the ER.  Jesus expects us to be ready for the brokenhearted just as the doctors and nurses are ready and waiting for their patients.  They are prepared; they are trained; and they are willing.  Any medical professional will tell you that you have to be a certain type of person to work in the ER.  That's because you have to be willing to do the dirty work--the hard work.  

Jesus was willing to do the dirty work.  He repeatedly reached for sinners.  He approached them as they were and then started the healing.  If He had sat and waited patiently and happily for them to be healed before meeting Him, would they have come at all?  

I now understand why it is so vitally important to accept, love, and encourage people just as they appear in our door.  

And if we say we're 24 hours, we had better be.