A Hospital for Sinners
Do you tend to think of our church as a Hospital for Sinners or a Museum for Saints? Of course, you probably haven’t thought of this – or any church – in exactly those words. Nevertheless, they are a good way to get us thinking about what church is and should be.
A museum is somewhere where things are on display. So, if a church is a Museum for Saints then it is displaying… saints. That is, we are keen to be on our best behaviour, and careful not to admit any weaknesses or faults, let alone any sins – apart from a few respectable and acceptable ones, that is. In fact, we may even stay away from church altogether if we are feeling anything less than our best. After all, we wouldn’t want to spoil the display, would we?
A hospital, though, is somewhere people go when they aren’t what they ought to be, to be made better. Isn’t that a great description of what church should be: a Hospital for Sinners? True, there are a couple of differences from medical hospitals. First, in this hospital everyone is both a patient and a doctor; we are all in need of God’s grace and we are all in a position to minister that grace to one another. Second, we never leave this hospital (at least not before Jesus comes again, when we will be like him); we are always in need of more of God’s grace. Let’s do all we can to make sure that our church family – that’s us! – is more like a hospital and less like a museum.