So this last week, I flew off to Portland for a ComicsPRO meeting. It's the only comics meeting put on by comic book retailers. Publishers come. Distributors come. Creators come. And it has a purpose: to create better brick and mortar comic retail stores. You know those friendly, neighborhood stores that sell comics every day of the week and help people find a story that they can love. Stores like the two that I own with my brother.
I wear these two hats in life: Being a pastor and being a comic book retailer. Once in a rare moon they seem to ruffle against one another, but most of the time they make things better and give me a perspective that pastors don't have and comic book retailers don't have. So those two hats intermingle in my mind all the time, hopefully, making me better.
With people at the meeting knowing my day job as a pastor, I get some interesting conversations. People share with me their faith journey. Some have grown up in religious families and rejected that life. Others share how they still go to church. And others share how they never did and don't even believe in God.
I realized this though. The church doesn't have the corner on making lives better. People like you do that where you work. Do you love others? Do you try to make this world a better place? When Jesus taught that the greatest commandments were to love God and love one another, he was tearing down religious precepts that we think make us right with God. And when the church becomes about something other than Jesus' greatest commandment, people start, justifiably so, hating the church. They'll go to their comic shop to find love. They'll go to the bar to find love. They will go wherever love is to be found.
I had this strange conversation with a homeless guy who meandered into the hotel lobby. He was once in law enforcement. He then was heartbroken by a lover who cheated on him. He was craving a fix of some sort. He didn't make the most sense, but he still needed to feel loved.
In a way, we're no better. We may have reached that point of brokenness and had someone around to help us through. Or maybe we haven't reached that point yet. But I was reminded in that conversation that we all need love. We need to be surrounded in love. We need communities of love. Without a community of love, that homeless person is what we all become. I understand the issue of homelessness is extremely complex, but in the midst of it is this desire to be loved. We are all made to be loved and belong.
This is what I liked about the meeting of retailers. Whether it was guests or retailers ourselves, we all shared a common mission, we all knew that we went through the same trenches together, we all knew that we are the fortunate ones whose businesses are still open. And we get to do this selling what we love. We all have stories of how comic books made us better. How we explored ideas while thinking about Genosha. Traveled to other worlds on a silver surfboard. Dreamed of community like the Bones shared. Desired to be teammates like the Justice League. Explored the atrocity of the holocaust through a tale of mice. We have seen heroes live and heroes die. We've learned to be empathetic through living hundreds of different lives vicariously. But we sort of share this common bond. Knowing that the thing we sell made us better. And we want to pass that along.
My friends in comic retailing weren't just discussing how to sell more comics although that is essential for us to stay in business and prosper. We were exploring how to sell more comics so that our stores can get books into people's hands that will help them connect with one another and dream of a better tomorrow. And we aren't shy about our different views, but we are optimistic that we can be this retail outlier in a world of so many brick and mortar stores closing. Through it all, we connect with other people who share common interests and dream of a better future together.
True, Walking Dead doesn't quite do that. Or does it in some way? Does it, through exploring the monstrosities we can become, show us what really matters in life? In looking at monsters and villains, do we truly see how to live?
Then I think of the church. Preferences can't be catered to in a church like they can in a comic shop, but people expect that. The church should be a place of refocus and hope. A place where all can feel loved. It should be a group of people on such a common and passionate mission together because we have been transformed in a way far greater than any comic book can achieve. We have surrender our lives to a loving and sacrificial king. That's not everyone's experience though. It's often just smoke and mirrors, hypocrisy and disguised hate. It's heartbreaking rather than life giving.
Do we love people unconditionally? Or do they have to meet a criteria to be loved? Do we offer hope to the hopeless? Or do they have to conform to have hope? Do we offer friendship? Or is that thrown away at the first disagreement? How did we mess it up so much?
In a world where the church should be a beacon of the things of God, the church messes it up so much at times that people go elsewhere to feel loved. It baffles me - and I'm still trying to digest how I felt that more at a comic retailers get together than I often do at church. It may not be comic retailers for you. It may be some other group. No matter what group it is, this is messed up. Although I'm thankful to experience it with my retailing peers
Love God. Love one another. Unconditionally. With every part of my being. The church should be living that everywhere. But this week I saw the comic retail community living it while in the church I feel attacked and hated at times. That may be your experience too.
We were all made to feel loved. The church was made to love people. Let's get to doing that no matter what our day job is.
