Spiritual Hiccups - Boutique Hospitals for Sinners

In many larger cities, more and more boutique hospitals are being built.  These are usually for-profit hospitals that specialize in certain sorts of practices or surgeries such as joint replacements.  These hospitals are usually very upscale, feeling more like a high end hotel than a hospital.  Their appeal is obvious.  For those with money or insurance that will cover the stay, the amenities and service are top rate, but I do worry that such enterprises exacerbate a growing divide between haves and have-nots in our country.

I have often heard the term "hospital for sinners" used to characterize congregations.  The phrase is drawn from verses like those of this morning's gospel where Jesus responds to those criticizing him for hanging out with tax collectors and sinners by saying, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” 

Hospital for sinners correctly tries to express that church congregations are places to be healed, not collections of perfect folks.  Thinking of ourselves this way may help us be open to the needs around us, to be welcoming to those who would like to discover what it means to follow Jesus.

But sometimes we tend to be more boutique hospitals than general ones.  We want to help "sick" folks but not those with difficult problems or those without the resources to help fund our little hospitals.  I realize that I am over generalizing here.  I have been in many congregations that have the feel of a hard-scrabble, downtown, non-profit hospital - a place filled with all sorts of people with all sorts of problems.  But I think it fair to say that many congregations, certainly many Presbyterian congregations, tend to look more like the boutique sort.

I don't know that boutique hospitals are necessarily bad things.  And perhaps congregations that have a boutique feel are not necessarily bad things either.  But I have this notion that Jesus calls us to be a little more of a general hospital and a bit less the boutique.

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