If Music Festivals Were Churches...

I went out to Dfest last night, and must say that I had an absolute blast. The opportunity to be surrounded by hundreds of thousands of other people who have one thing on their mind, the pursuit of good music, is absolutely amazing. Everyone there was a "friend" to everyone else, simply because we shared a common goal- music. People I had not seen in ages came out of the woodwork, and people I had never met stood side by side with me and sang at the top of our collective lungs. The streets of Tulsa ran free with love and acceptance and I loved it.

This morning as I thought about all that I had experienced, I realized how much of a typology of the Church last night's gathering could be. It was a gathering of people of all races, genders, age ranges, sexual preferences, religions, and cultures who were there for an express purpose. They came with their brokenness, their failures, their struggles and their successes, and were all dedicated to this pursuit. What if the Church were more like that? What if we could stand side by side with the broken without the fear that their perceived "filth" or sin would rub off on us and sully our previously unmarred appearance? What if we could accept people for where they were while letting our ife and conversation push them towards all that God has created them to be? What if love really did have the power to change and what if loving extravagantly really did bring about extravagant results in people's lives? How different would our evangelistic outreaches be if they were built out of love and showing Christ's to the world as opposed to an increase in our "salvation" numbers for the week/month/year? What if we really believed that it was God's job to change people and our job to love them and present them with the truth of the Gospel in a way that doesn't condemn them but draws them into the "Amazing Love" of God?

Love as if all the world depends on it- because it does.

Pursue. Original.