We've been expecting you...

I don’t believe right.
I don’t think right.
I don’t talk right.
I don’t dress right.
I don’t look right.
I don’t vote right.
I don’t drink right.
I don’t play right.
I don’t laugh right.
 
And so, in churches across the country I, and people like me…
The ones who miss the mark
Who are not enough on their best days
And flat wrong on the rest of them.
The ones who color outside of the lines.
Who get sad when they read the Bible
And love Jesus… but in an, “It’s Complicated” kind of way.
We’re made to feel uncomfortable
We’re asked to listen quietly
We’re told that our sickness...our depression… our anxiety… our struggles are the outpouring of our errant thoughts and our backslidden ways.
 
From time to time, however, we slide into the backs of churches, each for our own reasons, self-flagellation, quiet, hope, frustration, boredom, nostalgia,
Sometimes just to share in the music and then leave.
 
But sometimes... occasionally... rarely… we slide into Trinity, or a church like Trinity.
We don’t feel like a new kid
A foreigner.
An interloper.
A stranger.
A charity case.
Or even a guest.
 
No matter the words they use, their greeting says the same thing.
“We’ve been expecting you. We’re so glad you made it.”
 
I give to Trinity because if the lights go off here, how long will it be before I find a place to be confused about my faith. And how long before someone like me hears, “We’ve been expecting you. We’re so glad you made it.”
--Morris DuBose