Last Sunday I was asked to lead a bible study for this Saturday and I quickly accepted the opportunity. I spent the week finding verses on what it means to be a church and what it means to be a Christian and I planned to use the verses to guide a discussion with the members. The bible study started at 6:00 so I made sure to get the a little early and arrived at 5:50. Unfortunately no one was there yet so I waited...and waited...and waited. At 6:15 a lady in the house next door came out and she invited me in so that I could knock on the Pastor´s door...he wasn´t there. I then waited until 6:31 because the bible study was supposed to last til 7:00 so I figured I would wait until one minute past the half way point.
Different emotions ran through my head: anger, sadness, confusion, discouragement, disappointment, as well as others. I went to the service yesterday and, as usual, everyone showed up late. The pastor, a girl who is from Cuzco, and I started promptly at 6:30 and then another lady came in around 6:35, another man at 6:45 and then finally the president of the church strolled in a little after 7:00. It also so happened that she was given the sermon last night and she spoke on the good Samaritan.
After the service, I approached her and asked her what happened Saturday night. She said that she got caught at work until 9:00 and was not able to make it. I know for a fact that she works for a shop and there are rarely any shops that stay open past sundown which is about 6:00 here. I asked her if there was any way she either could have known that beforehand, taken off for a minute to run tell me she couldn´t make it, or have found someone to cover for her since she knew there was bible study and it was in fact her idea. I don´t remember exactly what she said, but basically just made up excuses, apologised, and said it would never happen again.
I then asked her why she was late tonight, and if everything was ok. She then continued to tell a story about how her week was busy and her house was a disaster and so she had to get it in order. She didn´t work yesterday so I´m not so sure that she was getting her house in order until 7:00 and that she couldn´t stop working to make it to church on time. I then asked her if she got her house in order every Sunday about that time because she has been late every single Sunday that I´ve been here. I also brought to her attention that she is the president and representative of the church and since she wants new members to come, what would they think if the president shows up half way through service. She then continued to make excuses and saying that she´s trying to change but frankly I didn´t believe her. I hope that she was genuine in what she said but I´d have to see it to believe it. If I show up again on Saturday and no one shows up I´m so sure I´ll be there the following week or try to find a church in the US to sponsor them.
It may seem like I´m being harsh, and that I shouldn´t judge her. I used to think that way and used this to justify my thinking:
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.(Matthew 7:1-5)
I then realized that I was not passing judgement on her, I never said she was a bad person but rather there are somethings in which she should change her ways. She has done the same thing every week without even an apology or shown a shred of regret, I am honestly not sure she saw anything wrong with what she was doing. I would hope that if I was doing something wrong without remorse that someone would approach me and let me know that I should change. Again, I searched in the bible to see what it says and I ran across this:
"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.(Matthew 18:15-18)
You see, it is true that we shouldn´t judge a person, but we are called to be accountable to one another and say when someone has stepped out of line and sinned. Also notice that it says to first approach them in private. I was tempted to stand up in front of everyone and confront her but I realized that she would have been even more offended and defensive, I also then found this verse in which Jesus us tells us flat out to approach them individually first, then bring others, and finally, as a last effort, tell it to the church. I approached her in private, but then noticed the pastor went up to her after to tell her the same thing. I hope and pray that she makes an afford to change but frankly she is a representative of the church as a whole. They all seem to not care what´s going on and fail to make actions towards change.
Peace,
Brandon
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