Falling into grace

From Rachel's journal:

People want to be part of the winning team. It's easy to say, 'Come to our church. We have great lights and great music.' I used to say that. But I never said, 'Listen. Come and meet the people who know what pain is like, and what brokenness is like. Come to meet people who are going to make you feel at home with your failure, because they're not pretending to be anybody. And come and meet Jesus, the person who gives us the ability to keep starting again and not feel so despairing that we give up.' If we were so honest about our unrighteousness that when we saw someone suffering feelings of shame and pain we didn't judge them, but we had a great sense of compassion for them, because we knew how they felt - the same damning guilt and shame and abhorrence that we feel - wouldn't it make a difference? (Geoff Bullock)