Rhapsody Church, the church at the "Y."

Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

I had a person say to me, "How do I know if I am a muddy boots person and not a fancy shoe person?"

I felt like saying, "You would know if you're a muddy boots person." But that just seemed impersonal and contrite.

I directed them to this video instead.  

Jelly Roll - Son of a Sinner

If you relate to this video, you are a muddy boots person. If not, well, then you're not.

Oh, this song sounds so familiar, my wife cried when she heard it. 

She said, "Promise me you're not there anymore."

I said, "I promise I am not there. And, yet I still am. I'm not looking for ways to get gone anymore, but I'm still a long-haired son of a sinner.)

 But, I know there are people who are and they need a friend."

The part of the song that says:

Talk to God and tell him what I think

At first, He's gonna hate me

But eventually, He'll save me

I had to get pretty desperate to come so clean and vulnerable to Him that I would risk His hate. Hoping all the while that eventually, He would save me.

That is a tough place to be. 

I found that God never hated me. No, it was only me that hated me. 

Do you know what I love about this song? It is so real, so vulnerable, so relatable. 

Do you know what I despise about the American church? It is so fake, so dangerous, so unrelatable. 

I watch muddy boots people step way out of their comfort zone, many times in a last-ditch effort to find God, desperate hurting people, and they are confronted with plastic smiles, ultra-spirituality, people in the pulpit acting as if they have it all together, and if you just act more like me God will love you. 

And then, there I am having conversations with broken, hurt people about how bad Christ is and how they no longer call themselves Christians. 

All I have to say is, "The same things that pisses you off about church pisses me off too."

If the colorful language upsets you, oh well, there is just no other way for me to say it.

Here is a shameless plug. 

Rhapsody Church, the church at the "Y."

If you find yourself in Vancouver Washington on a Sunday morning at 10 am, come on in. 

You won't find plastic smiles.

You won't find ultra-spirituality.

You won't find people up front (we don't have a pulpit, we have a rug though!) acting as if they have it all together.

You will find real, open, authentic people all working through their stuff in community with each other and God is loving on them, and they are loving on God. 

You will see people crying.

You will hear people laughing.

You will see a person get up from their chair (Yes, we use chairs, not pews), walk over to someone, sit down and put their arm around them and hold them while they cry. 

That is the church you will walk into if you ever find yourself in Vancouver, Washington at 10 am on a Sunday morning. 

And if you think I am plugging myself, you're wrong. I am not the pastor, just a long-haired son of a sinner sitting in a chair, sometimes laughing, many times crying, occasionally getting up, walking over to someone else, putting my arms around them, and holding them while they cry. 

Hopefully, I will see you there.

Blessings,

Roger