I was blown away by this song at Mission Worship in Eastbourne but encountered some problems when putting it in a worship set last Sunday, despite sending the Youtube link to my minister in November! The ministry team were worried about several words in the song and wanted us to stop doing it.

The first word was 'abusers':

Come self-sufficient
With wearied ambition,
And come those who feel
At the end of the road.
Fiery debaters
And religion haters,
Accusers, abusers,
The hurt and ignored.

Their point, which I have to admit hadn't occurred to me, was that whilst people in the church who had been abused as children might understand, on an intellectual level, that their abusers were welcome in church, it might be the final straw for them. Clearly, the church in the world has a history of harbouring abusers to the detriment of the vulnerable.

The second was 'orientation':

Come those who worry
'Bout houses and money,
And all those who don't have
A care in the world;
From every station
And orientation,
The helpless, the hopeless,
The young and the old.

The argument runs that there are people in the church who question whether a homosexual orientation even exists (although sex isn't specifically mentioned in the song) claiming that everything is environmental. Those who are gay might think that the church's acceptance extends beyond the reality.

Both of these concerns, although I understand them and don't want to cause my 'brother to stumble', trouble me greatly. In an age when many people feel that they don't belong in church it seems to me that Townend's retelling of the parable of the wedding feast is both appropriate and timely. Jesus spent much of his time among the very people with whom most of us, despite our in-depth knowledge of the bible, would probably not mix. In any case, the meaning of 'abusers' isn't clear - the song could be seen to be extending welcome hope to alcoholics or those addicted to drugs.

What does anyone else think?