Jesus called, He wants His church back.

About the last week or so, I have been thinking alot about relationships.
Specifically being less guarded. I'm a thinker and tend to view things from an observational perspective which is good in some cases, but in others it can make me seem pretty in-accessible. I can be thinking about how incredibly awesome the person I am talking to is, but sometimes on the outside I'm only assuming that this is being communicated. Sort of a catch 22 for someone who loves people as much as I do, but God is good at change.

Last night I didn't sleep much.
About 3:30 am i decided that the most logical thing to do would be to take my garbage out. I live in an old apartment building - circa 1925. The kind of old that some people call style, and others just call old. Most days, I call it style.
The bottom floor in the building is kinda creepy. Not really creepy, but enough creepy.
Old movie with suspenseful music kind of creepy. Ill refrain from further descriptors for my own sake.
So I navigated the sliding elevator door and turned to walk down the dim basement hallway. Walking toward me at 3:30 in the morning, in very stark contrast to her surroundings was a very pretty girl. Not just a little pretty. Like red carpet premier pretty. Make other girls angry pretty.
The next 3 seconds were fascinating to me, and I thought about them all day today. And no, it wasn't because she was hot enough to burn the paint off the wall behind her.
As i walked past her, she looked me directly in the eyes, and smiled a totally honest smile. I smiled back. I looked at her and saw she was actually a really nice person.
Its weird how much of our own baggage we can project onto people that we think are in-accessible. Then I realized she was a stripper. She saw me realize it. Being a guy, I immediately pictured her naked. Having some practice in choosing what I see, I re-fixated on who she was as a person. She saw the whole thing, comprehended it, and thought it was funny. Then she surprised me by completely dropping her guard, and inviting me to talk to her, but let me know she would shut me down if I so much as thought about hitting on her. I politely declined, and walked out the door. Maybe I should have talked to her, but I didn't. I wasn't prepared, and was caught off guard at 3:30 in the morning.
3 seconds, no words, total honesty.
Why am I telling you this?
I am, like I said, fascinated by the level of total honesty in that 3 second wordless exchange.

Today I drove up to Seattle to take a look at some kitchen facilities that I will be using to prepare food for a close friends wedding. It was fun. I got to hang out with a great friend, and at the end of it, I decided to stay for the evening service at the church where they will be having the wedding. With honesty and openness still fresh in my mind, I walked in sort of excited. I like going to new churches and seeing what God is doing there. I love the diversity.
What immediately struck me as I made my way to the sanctuary was that no one would look me in the eyes. Everyone looked away. And there was fear in the place.
Shame even. It sort of made me want to very quickly turn around and walk out.
But I didn't. I took a seat. The music was pretty good. Some announcements.
At this point I am practicing that fixating thing. I will not get offended. I will see the good. Its a bit oppressive in here, but still these are people. I like people. These are Gods people. I like God.
At this point a very Seattle looking guy gets up and starts to preach. I could have run up and kissed him. I didn't. He talked about relationships. He talked about openness, and wondered why in the world people would want to spend time with people who say that they are free, but are totally stand offish and wont even look you in the eye. He was honest. He was open. He made me smile and gave me hope.

On the way home I was just listening. I try to do that when my head gets to busy.
At some point, I got a very clear feeling that we are about to see a shift. That the places of deep relationship and looking people directly in the eye with total honesty are about to be inhabited by the ones He calls His own. That the pattern of the church is about to change. And why wouldn't it? We are free from shame and fear. We belong to the one who created all things. Sons and Daughters of the King.
I'm not condemning that girl I saw in the hallway, or even judging her. In fact, I liked her. Jesus didn't come to condemn the world, but to save it.