The Emergency Room Clinic
On the church as a “Safe-Place”

In days of yore, the story is told of a great physician, a compassionate healer, that walked our streets healing and tending to the poor and sick.  His short time with us and the stories of the good he did have become legendary now, through books, movies and music.

Shortly after his tragic death, his followers decided to set up a neighborhood emergency room clinic (of a sort) to carry on his work in his absence.  Too much good had been done, too many people had been helped to let his death end it all.  Most of the clinic workers were some of the same people that had been healed by this great physician.  Understanding his style as they did, they brought to their clinic work a great sense of compassion for the sick.  The clinic, for a while anyway, seemed to be a true reflection of the physician’s manner and way.  People were welcome with any ailments and in any condition, and were tended to immediately by workers who had known pain themselves.  No disease was too grave, and no condition too hopeless.

As time passed, however, new clinic workers replaced the first workers that had known the great physician.  These new folks had fresh ideas and plans for the clinic - better ways to organize things.  New clinic medical robes were purchased that were a bit more professional.  It was important (they argued) for one to see quickly the difference between worker and patient.  The new uniforms took care of that, giving the staff some visibility and separateness from the patients.

Many in the staff found the waiting room a bit distasteful.  “We must find a better way to deal with the blood and the moaning...”, they said, “it’s too depressing to the less ill patients.”  Efforts were made to separate out those who were “not as sick” from those who were clearly in pain, so that their cries wouldn’t be heard by the “healthier” patients.  Similarly, a waiting room covering was provided for those with unsightly skin rashes or sores.

Some in the administration came up with wonderful new ideas for parking, name tags, entertainment and food, so that a better class of customers would be drawn in to use the clinic.  A cheerful, pleasant atmosphere was created, and it became advertised in the community as a waiting room with “no blood”.  In fact, if someone was bleeding profusely they were politely asked to go elsewhere...perhaps to a place that specialized in blood.  But they were always told that if they got better they were very welcome there.  In a community that was experiencing increasing problems and pain, this emergency room was quickly becoming known as a place that was clean, and that could provide shelter for the upstanding citizen.  And they were proud of the reputation they had gained in the community.

The waiting room still bore the picture of the great physician, although it had become a very different place in the intervening years since his death.  But many considered it a better place than it had been.  There was now a professionally trained staff - no more wounded street workers caring for the sick.  And they boasted some of the community’s “best” as their “members”.  Oh yes, they had stopped referring to them as “patients”.  They were “members” now.  One didn’t check in to the clinic, one “joined” it.  There were even implied membership dues or donations, which helped to sustain the upkeep and expenses of the place, for now there was nice carpet and the very best medical equipment (although it had been some time since anyone had conducted surgery there, or bandaged a wound).

You see, at this point most people hid their wounds before coming into the clinic.  It really was no longer a place where you could go with a limp, broken bone, or to bleed.  If you were in pain, well...you either covered up or you just didn’t go there.

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Well it’s been 2000 years since the Great Physician walked our world community, and the emergency room clinic has changed a lot, both in how it’s seen by those on the inside and by those on the outside.

I can’t speak for what happens everywhere in the “clinic”, but I can tell you what happens here in Sonlight.  We are trying to hearken back to the ideas of the great physician, albeit in a modern facility and modern times.

We are telling you to “wear your wounds”.
It is “safe” to be sick here.  It’s safe to be “you” here.

Jesus said a lot that can help us heal.  And that’s what we want to look at through music, through art, through discussion.  But you can’t begin to heal if you are busy hiding your pain, your problems, your addictions, your issues.

You are going to see a lot of imperfect people here in this choir and we’re encouraging them to wear their wounds openly.  You can only get help if you know you’ve got a problem.

Don’t call someone a hypocrite 
because they’re bleeding under their Tommy Hilfiger shirt.

Hey we’ve all got our stuff to deal with.
We aren’t supposed to be coming to church because we’re good.
We’re coming here because we’re human
and it can be a place to get help...

Or it can be a place to just let the music wash over you and do its thing.

Truth is true wherever it is found.
In the lines of a pop song
or in the red letter edition of the King James Bible.

Let the Truth Set You Free!!!