Eureka! I found some springs

Wow. I'm really on a roll with this whole blog thing. Three nights in a row and still going strong. Anyways, I went to Eureka Springs today with my now officially "one-year-of-dating" girlfriend (hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures tomorrow). I had a lot of interesting thoughts as I was in said location. First of all, I know that Eureka Springs is a very interesting and eclectic place. In fact, one of the ladies in this shop told us that last weekend was cross-dressing day and she also described the residents as being "open." My point is not at all to judge or condemn these people, however, the question I had was what does the Christian community in this area look like? Are there Christians reaching out to the residents of Eureka Springs, especially the homosexuals, the witches, the partyers, and any other group normally shunned by religious folk? Are most of the Christians in the area those who have grown up there and see their community as more of a war-zone, an us vs. them type mentality? The thought makes me sad because I imagine that this last sentence is the typical response. Why do people flock to places like Eureka Springs, San Francisco, Amsterdam? Maybe it's because they feel accepted, they feel loved no matter what. But what's the point? It's the blind leading the blind. Where should acceptance come from? I feel that as Christians we have failed in our responsibility to accept and love all people. Why do these people flee from the church? Probably because they feel more judgement and condemnation than they do love and acceptance. I know that I myself have been very guilty of this.

This brings me to my second thought process...
What the heck are we going to do about it? I feel like there are so many little pockets of "real" Christians out there in the midst of all this hypocrisy and blindness. When is it going to come together? I read magazines like Relevant and see ads and articles for all these really neat Christian ministries but it seems like as a whole the Church is failing to make God's kingdom a present reality. What is it going to take? Is the church on the verge of judgement? We like to proclaim death, destruction, fire and brimstone for the world but when you look at Biblical history, quite a bit of that was directed towards the Jews. Why? Because they failed many times over to glorify God and make Him known to the nations because they were so caught up in building their own little kingdoms.
So to get back to the original thought...I get so discouraged when I see all this darkness and than see myself and those around me failing to reach out. We are so caught up in our own little kingdoms, our own little pictures of what God and His work should be, that we fail to realize our vocation and calling as a church. I know that we cannot individually change the world, the church must unite. There really is going to have to be a revolution. The question is will this ever take place? And than, what can I do to join it?

Thank you for your time.