I might be late to the game, but I just found the show Queer Eye while strolling through Netflix. I’ve heard you can’t get through an episode without crying so I took the challenge.

I made it 5 minutes into the show and I’m wrecked.
My heart is broken.
I’m sad.
I’m definitely crying.

Five gay men were headed to a small town to do a makeover for a woman and her church. Ya, her church. They’re redoing the community center in honor of this woman who works so hard for the community. As they’re driving to the church, they start talking about their experience with the church and here are just a few things they said that I was able to quickly jot down.

“The church is what I feel alienated by, not God. I’ve always felt loved on by God and Jesus.”

“I’ve just always had a bad experience with church and religion. I’ve always been judged.”

“I begged at the alter ever Sunday for God to make me not gay and then when everyone found out I was gay they rejected me and I never went back to church.”

That’s hard stuff to even type out.

One man couldn’t even get his words out because his voice quivered with hurt. When they made it to the church he refused to go in. He waited outside.
HE WAITED OUTSIDE!
He waited outside of an empty church because somewhere along the way the church had hurt him to his core.

What are we doing?
How are we burning these humans hearts so severely that they are too scared to even be in our presence.
I’m ashamed.

This is why people run from Jesus instead of to him.
This isn’t a Jesus problem.
This is an us problem.
This is a religious problem.

Jesus doesn’t care about religion, he cares about relationships.

We are doing it wrong and we need to stop antagonizing and evangelizing at the same time, it sends a mixed message.
You can see where that might confuse and anger people who are trying to figure out what’s truly in our hearts.
Our job is to love God and love others.
Our job is to tell others what Jesus did for us, regardless of how crappy we are and how stained with sins we all are.

Throw religion out the window and start loving on others the way Jesus does.
I pray the sweet man who stood outside the gates, outside the church doors, refusing to step foot inside the place that hurt him the most, finds someone with a true Jesus heart who will love on him the way we should. I pray that someone comes along and helps heal the part of his heart that the church damaged.
I’m sorry to every hurting heart, every rejected person, every cast aside kid, every judged human.

I’m so sorry, that’s not my Jesus, mine loves you.