Someone once said that the gap between the way you expect things to be and the way they really are is where disappointment, frustration, and anger live.
Think about that for a moment.
the way you expect something or someone to treat you, the way you expect something or someone to respond, the way you expect something or someone to play out in a certain way, and the way it actually happens, what they actually say, what they actually do, how things actually go, the gap between those two things is where frustration, disappointment, and anger tend to live.
You could probably see and observe that in your own life.
I can certainly see and observe that in mine.
But even in particular, as we come into and are part of a church gathering, it's quite possible to experience that gap.
When you come to church, maybe for the first time, or the tenth time, or the hundredth time, or the thousandth time, which at our church would mean that you've been at it every Sunday for the last 20 years, which, hey, there's no medal for that, but awesome.
But if you have been a part of this community in any kind of way, or even as you're coming in for the first time, it's impossible not to have an expectation.
of what things will be like, and not just what's going to happen in the service or this gathering, this home group, but how are people going to treat me? How is something going to happen? How are people going to respond? What will they say? What will they do? I have expectations and high hopes and expectations for them, and in fact, even for God.
And yet, very oftentimes, people don't respond the way that we hope.
People don't do the things that we hope they will do.
People do things we don't expect them to do or say.
And in between that gap is where frustration, disappointment, and anger can live in our church community, in our faith, with each other, and with God.
I say that just to be honest with you if you are here for the first time, that it's impossible not to have an expectation.
And in many ways, perhaps maybe you haven't been in church for a long time because of what reality was actually like versus what you expected it to be.
And perhaps our expectations are higher and should be higher maybe as we come into a community of faith, a place where God is supposedly at the center.
I say this to you, if you've been a part of our church for any length of time, you have probably inevitably experienced some of that disappointment, some of that frustration, some of that anger where people didn't respond in how you hoped or expected or just reasonably thought they would or what they did or didn't do and how they reacted to you and treated you and perhaps even with God.
We just need to be honest about that and not even just expectation, sometimes real hurt.
I think it's even more important to be honest about this as we are in a series that we've called You're Welcome, The Practice of Radical Hospitality.
It's a conversation that we actually began a few weeks ago.
If you missed any of it, you can catch up online.
But if you haven't done that, no problem.
You will catch up quickly here today.
Even these words, we use the word welcome.
Someone once said that the gap between the way you expect things to be and the way they really are is where disappointment, frustration, and anger live.
Think about that for a moment.
the way you expect something or someone to treat you, the way you expect something or someone to respond, the way you expect something or someone to play out in a certain way, and the way it actually happens, what they actually say, what they actually do, how things actually go, the gap between those two things is where frustration, disappointment, and anger tend to live.
You could probably see and observe that in your own life.
I can certainly see and observe that in mine.
But even in particular, as we come into and are part of a church gathering, it's quite possible to experience that gap.
When you come to church, maybe for the first time, or the tenth time, or the hundredth time, or the thousandth time, which at our church would mean that you've been at it every Sunday for the last 20 years, which, hey, there's no medal for that, but awesome.
But if you have been a part of this community in any kind of way, or even as you're coming in for the first time, it's impossible not to have an expectation.
of what things will be like, and not just what's going to happen in the service or this gathering, this home group, but how are people going to treat me? How is something going to happen? How are people going to respond? What will they say? What will they do? I have expectations and high hopes and expectations for them, and in fact, even for God.
And yet, very oftentimes, people don't respond the way that we hope.
People don't do the things that we hope they will do.
People do things we don't expect them to do or say.
And in between that gap is where frustration, disappointment, and anger can live in our church community, in our faith, with each other, and with God.
I say that just to be honest with you if you are here for the first time, that it's impossible not to have an expectation.
And in many ways, perhaps maybe you haven't been in church for a long time because of what reality was actually like versus what you expected it to be.
And perhaps our expectations are higher and should be higher maybe as we come into a community of faith, a place where God is supposedly at the center.
I say this to you, if you've been a part of our church for any length of time, you have probably inevitably experienced some of that disappointment, some of that frustration, some of that anger where people didn't respond in how you hoped or expected or just reasonably thought they would or what they did or didn't do and how they reacted to you and treated you and perhaps even with God.
We just need to be honest about that and not even just expectation, sometimes real hurt.
I think it's even more important to be honest about this as we are in a series that we've called You're Welcome, The Practice of Radical Hospitality.
It's a conversation that we actually began a few weeks ago.
If you missed any of it, you can catch up online.
But if you haven't done that, no problem.
You will catch up quickly here today.
Even these words, we use the word welcome.
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