Triage, this is where battle and disaster victims are assigned a degree of urgency. To your left, to your right, people are everywhere. Though not always, it is easy to look into their faces and see their afflictions, their pains, their wounds and ills. If you look closely, deeper into their eyes, you can perhaps see the remnant of a war, a battle, a win or a loss.

 Triage is where your hopes and dreams can either be sought or lost, as we await a nurse or doctor to file us somewhere in the line of service. How many will make the cut? How many of us will move up in the line? It is indeed the place where those of us who are the worse, perhaps get moved to the head of the line. Those better off than we must wait.

 Perhaps it is the waiting itself that may do us in. Are we left to bleed out or are we rushed in to be saved? What does it serve us, to be saved; saved for what? The battle is done. The war is far from over. These triage centers will still be needed for some time.

 These are the places we must go when we’re hurting, when we’re in pain or ill. Whether on the battlefield, or at home, in some fashion, every emergency room around the globe is a triage center, where we hope that nurses and doctors won’t give up on us.

 Our fates seem to hinge on the them and their spirit to help. Along with our physical ailments and battle-worn injuries, our spirits and souls are often in just as much need of help, as is our physical plight.

 If we take a close look, and break down each element, we find that we must always go through triage. Then we get help from the doctor or nurse. We’re told what our ailments are. We’re then either sent home in casts or with prescriptions or sent upstairs to be cared for overnight. People go in, people are hopefully healed and people are sent back out into the world.

 Is this a fairly accurate image of getting care when we need it? And if so, I then ask, does the church have the same purpose? Is it the sole purpose of the church to get people in the door and keep them there? Or should church be a triage center of the human race-at-large?

 Should churches be keeping its members inside the building, and seek to keep bringing more in? I posit this, perhaps we are missing entirely, the true purpose of the body of Christ. According to Mark, Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15) I wonder perhaps, was Christ speaking to “the church,” or was He speaking to His disciples?

 I believe most understand that when Christ established “His church,” He was establishing members of “His body,” not material buildings, palaces, and the like. Over time however, we Christians have moved, for the most part, out of our “house churches,” and into buildings big enough to hold our growing members. But I ask you, is this where Christ wants us to be?

 Is it possible we are missing the mark? There is no doubt that we should be welcoming people, bringing them into the church family. But, think back just for a moment, where I explain just a little about a triage center. Should each of our churches, have at its entrance, a revolving door?

 Is the true purpose of the church, to act as a triage center, for the members of Christ’s body; get them in, heal them and teach them, and then send them back out into the world? Is it the priest and minister who should be performing triage on us and determine who needs the most help?

 Through the iconic “Beatitudes,” of the Bible, I believe Christ made it quite clear how He performs triage. So, I ask, is the church truly mirroring Christ’s work? Should the focus and goals of the church be much different than they are?

 I believe that “the church” plays a vital role within the body of Christ. I believe the intentions of the church are admirable and much needed. Perhaps however, the church might reevaluate their roles and their purpose. Instead of maintaining a set of doors at the front of the church, where we ask people to come in a join us, to sit and stay a while, perhaps we want to triage the body of Christ. We should want to provide support and healing. We should want to strengthen the body of Christ; help them draw closer to our great Lord Jesus.

 We should want to teach them, encourage them, build them up in the boldness of Scripture and give them the tools necessary to go back out into the world and reach those in need.

“Triage” End Part I

©2017 Clayton Moore