Who ya Talking to?

Perhaps the two most profound lines used by Jesus were, "May I have a drink of water?: and "What is your name?" I get the idea these were not "hook" lines used to direct a conversation towards a desired end, but rather a genuine caring soul longing to build a relationship just for the relationship value.
I am finding it difficult to find "Church members" who are currently involved in ongoing conversations with "non church members" just because they want to build and develop a relationship with them. It seems we have little temporary scurries out into the "lost" world and with some sense of fear and frustration we toss out a "invitation to make it right with God" and head on back to our safe sanctuaries. We don't know them, we don't know about them and they have pretty well figured that out.
So what am I saying? I am saying that we (church people)(more me than anyone else I know) need to start in genuine repentance before God for not really loving people for the same reasons that God loves them. That is because they need to be loved. We probably ought to stop trying to "win" them and see what genuine loving relationships can do.
So who are you talking to? Is there someone on the other side of your life that is receiving your very best effort to know who they are, what they are like and what it feels like to be them? Is there someone in whom you have earned the invitation to share how Jesus has had compassion on you?

A control issue

For the past several weeks my laptop and I have not been able to agree on whether my browser was set to allow cookies. The sign in page took control and kept me out. Thus I could not open the blog page. I really don't know who was right but it finally worked.
For a few blogs to come I want to talk about what I see are some really exciting steps for church revitalization. There are some real tools and some workable steps that a church can take that seems to allow the Holy Spirit a greater freedom to carry out His work.
So I will start with what I perceive to be step one. That is an honest appraisal of the current situation of the Church by the pastor and membership. I do not mean by this a critical negative event. I mean a simple addressing of the facts of life as it in in the church as compared to what we sense God is wanting it to be like.
I also don't mean addressing areas like commitment, dedication, apathy, etc. Frankly those are symptoms, they are not the causes. We must address our lack of a strategy, but we must first our own personal relationship to Jesus. I suspect, rather I know because I am also guilty, that we want enough of a relationship with Jesus to keep our identity with Him but not enough of a relationship to allow Him to have the kind of freedom to rearrange our life without our consent. Not the kind of control that gives Him the freedom to truly call the shots and expect our cooperation with out quarrel.
Could we start today, maybe just you and me and ask Jesus to forgive our own limited yieldedness to His control of our lives?