Too Much Safety

There’s a lot of talk these days about safe places. These are places where people are free to be themselves. They are places that lack judgment and allow the freedom to be accepted no matter the person’s preferences, history, or genetic make-up. 

In many cases, these safe places are great ideas. So often it is super easy to judge a book by its cover. We see people dressed a particular way and judge them by their appearances. Take for instance the group of bikers that pulled into a local bookstore here in town. They had long hair and leather jackets. They were covered in tattoos just looked gruff. As they parked their bikes and made their way to the door to the Christian bookstore, the owner was scared a called me to come in to just be another person in the store so she wasn’t alone.

What happened next was truly amazing and shattered her fears! The bookstore was a collection point for a back to school drive for needy children in our area. These guys and gals came in and only spoke one sentence, “How much do you still need for the school drive?”

Shocked by the question and their appearance, the owner replied how great the need truly still was. Then they all left. Not another word. They didn’t even turn around and give the place a second look. As the owner and I chatted for a few minutes we started to hear the rumble of the Harley Davidson convoy returning. They came back in with arms full of crayons, rulers, pencils, notebooks, and everything on our list. They brought enough supplies to fill over 100 backpacks!

Having a safe place would have prevented us from making judgment calls based on how they looked. So I’m all for safe places. I think they are very much-needed in certain areas of life. But I believe there can be too much safety. The purpose of the safe place is to keep hidden those things that can cause people to jump to conclusions, but there is a time when that which is in the darkness needs to be called into the light.

Churches are supposed to be safe places. They are supposed to be places where people are accepted not because of their clothing or their actions but because of grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness. Here is where my opinions might be less acceptable to some and well that’s just the way it is.

I believe that the church has become too safe of a place. We’ve swept evil, sin, wrong under the rug as if it didn’t exist. But there is a time when we need to call a sin a sin. We need to face up to our faults and deal with them. There is a time when the light of God’s law (commands) and gospel (good news of unconditional love) needs to shine into our darkness.

Think of the church like a hospital for a moment. When’s the last time you went to the hospital just to be kept healthy? Chances are you only go to the hospital to be fixed when you realize something is wrong. The same is true for churches today. We’re not showing the heavy weight of our personal faults and failures. And by not weighing them heavy enough we lessen the need for God’s love and forgiveness.

It’s time we found a balance between the safety and acceptance of a non-judgmental atmosphere and the correction and transformation that can happen when our faults are dealt with in a loving and forgiving way. The way I view the worship life of the church is simple – you’ve entered a safe place to hear a potentially dangerous message.