church?

As some of you know, we had a rather interesting Easter Sunday. I will comment on the events since so many people have been calling, emailing, and stopping by. What follows are my both my experience and thoughts.

After being part of a small group dialoging about God’s plan for marriage on Sunday morning, we attended a local church. That is where it got interesting. We were met outside of the auditorium by several church leaders and refused entry. They gave no reason for their actions. However, we have since received a brief letter outlining the reason for their actions. Rather than attempt to recreate what was said, I quote the letter:


The fact that we asked you not to attend [name deleted] functions is not a personal attack. As evidence of what we have seen over time in actions, emails, and views conveyed in teachings and your blog, the attitude towards the local church is one we cannot tolerate or welcome into what God has called us to.

We have made a decision that this email will be our only response to you and we ask that you will please respect our decisions.

I am rather curious about the statement that my attitude toward the local church cannot be tolerated. I feel that it would be beneficial for me to outline what I believe about the local church. I welcome your input and correction. Feel free to point out where you feel my beliefs are contrary to scripture.

Ø I believe that church is the “ecclesia”, the “called out ones”. The church is not a building or a program. It is people, people connecting around Jesus Christ the Head. It is people doing life together, eating together, sharing our resources, and gathering together to encourage and spur each other on. It is people following Jesus together, caring for each other, praying with and for each other. It is people engaging in the ministry of Jesus together, binding up the brokenhearted, healing the sick, and setting the captive free.

Ø The church cannot be destroyed. Jesus said that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church. No created being, angel, demon, or human can stop the work of God. If something that calls itself church can be destroyed, then it wasn’t the church in the first place, it was only a facsimile of the real thing.

Ø The Head of the church is Jesus. The pastor is not the head; the elders are not the head. Jesus sets the agenda for the church. That doesn’t negate leadership. God has set leadership in place. However, His paradigm of leadership is one where the leaders exist for the benefit of the people. (This follows Jesus’ example.)

Ø I believe that far too frequently the “stuff” of church has replaced God. We become enamored with programs, buildings and hierarchy. In doing so, we lose our love for people. The system becomes more important than people.

Ø The concept of “going to church” is remarkably absent from the New Testament. Church is not something to go to but something to be. I don’t go to the body of Christ; I am a specific part of the body of Christ.

Ø There is not a correct formula to gather and meet together. The church can meet in a cathedral, a living room, or a coffee shop.

Ø When people follow Jesus, church will emerge. The desire for fellowship, relationship and community is resident in every believer. However, when our focus moves from Jesus to church, Jesus usually gets left behind.

Ø The Jewish religious system was destroyed by Jesus We no longer have a need for a holy man, a holy time, and a holy space. Every believer is a priest. Instead of stones and mortar the “temple” is now built of living stones.

If you peruse the blog you will find that I chronicle my thoughts about the church from time to time. In May of 2008 I posted several times about my observations of church. I would encourage you to re-read those posts as well.

As far as my actions toward church, Bev and I relate to and serve a number of churches in Central Pennsylvania and beyond. These churches are as varied as the people of which the church is comprised. Some are larger and meet in a building. Some are smaller groups that meet in homes or other places. One is not better than the other; all are the body of Christ. My desire is that all believers in these churches will become fully alive in their God-given purpose.

Since the church leaders that sent me the letter choose not to dialogue with me, I welcome your input and would be happy to dialogue on this forum. Feel free to go back to previous posts and measure my comments against scripture. If you feel that I am in error, please comment.

FYI - I will not allow this to become a platform from which to vilify people or churches. If I feel that your post has venom in it directed at other people, I will not post it.

our addiction to church

I have noticed that people who are "lost" usually resort to some kind of addiction to replace their oneness with God. Now before you assume that lost people are the bad people "out there", let me clarify. A person becomes lost the moment that they disconnect with God. Adam and Eve were lost the moment that they decided to act independently of God. And so it is today. Anytime that we choose to act independently of God, we become lost.

Since we were created for significance and since true significance is found in our connection with God, our disconnect with God sends us on a search to fill the void. If we do not return to our connection with God, other gods beckon us. Those gods quickly turn into addictions that master us.

Upon hearing the word "addiction", most people immediately think of obvious addictions, alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual perversions, and gambling. While these vices certainly are addictions, they are the less dangerous addictions. The most dangerous addictions are those that appear to be good. Most lost people do not engage in the obvious addictions, rather they engage in the good addictions to fill the void; things like hobbies, fitness, and religious activities.

In my observation, the most insidious of all addictions is most prevalent among Christians. It is our addiction to church. When I use the term "church" I am not referring to the Biblical concept of the "ecclesia". What I am referring to is our contemporary paradigm of church - Sunday morning meetings, programs, a building, and the governmental hierarchy that accompanies it. Remember our addictions are a result of our disconnect with God. We fill the void with some other god. The man that turns to alcohol will usually be aware of destructive behavior. However the man who disconnects from God and fills the void with church convinces himself of his goodness.

Our addiction to church not only strengthens our disconnect with God, it causes us to resist the very God we declare we serve. This deception is not new. The Pharisees of Jesus' day were the guardians of good doctrine. They read the scriptures. They lived differently than the general public. They were zealous for their religious tradition. Yet they missed God. Not only did they miss God, they resisted Him to the point breaking their own religious laws in their opposition to Him.

And so it is today - Christian vociferously defend their paradigm of church. If you dare mess with their god, be ready to be attacked. Good people behave in bizarre ways as their addiction is threatened. For a good many years now, I have spent time both "in the world" and "in the church". I can tell you this, the church is more brutal and cruel than the world. (Again I am using the word church in the contemporary manner not in the Biblical manner.) Most people in the world will admit their addictions when the conversations become vulnerable. The problem with our addiction to church is that we assume our godless behavior is godly.

We are destined to continue our addiction to church as long as we continue to disconnect from God. The solution to our addiction to church is the same as overcoming any other addictions. Only as we reconnect with God will we overcome our destructive behaviors.

sacrifice?

All religions have at their core, a system of self-sacrifice. At first glance, sacrifice seems noble and honorable. Sacrifice is seen as the means with which we please God; that somehow He loves us more based on what we have given up for Him. Currently we are finishing up the season of Lent. The whole idea behind Lent is that we sacrifice something dear to us in order to identify with God.

Jesus speaks some interesting words about sacrifice. Twice He quotes the prophet Hosea -
"I desire mercy and not sacrifice". Both times He was accosted by the religious for failing to meet their expectations - once when He socialized with sinners and once when He allowed His disciples to pick and eat grain on the Sabbath.

Perhaps God is not as interested in our sacrifice as He is in our attitude toward other people. One of the dangers of sacrifice is that it can quickly breed judgmentalism toward other people. About a year ago I was at a cattle sale. As I observed people and their activities, I felt God speak to my heart. For some time, I had been bothered by the attitude of Christians. A web forum in which I participate had an ongoing debate about judgment. It seemed to me that some people relished the thought of the heathen "getting theirs" someday. As I watched the people at the sale, I realized that many Christians feel they have sacrificed a lot to be "good Christians". With that sacrifice comes a fear that the "world" is having a good time all the while we are in misery from our sacrifice. We console ourselves with the thought sometime in the future the bad people will be forced to pay for their misdeeds.

Like the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son, we have stayed home and been good. Our preoccupation with our sacrifice renders us unable to rejoice when the prodigal comes home. In our mind, it's not fair. It seems as if he is being rewarded for his sin while we are being ignored. Therefore we begin to be judgmental and harsh. We demand recognition from the Father for our sacrifice, thereby missing the point completely.

About right now, someone is saying "yeah but Jesus said we have to die to ourselves". That is true, However, the point of dying to ourselves is not to impress God but to move from self-destruction to abundant life. If our dying to self does not create the character of Jesus within us, then our dying is in vain. Jesus simply stated that if we are going to follow Him, we will be forced to take up our cross. He never stated that sacrifice will cause us to follow Him. If we focus on sacrifice we have missed the point.

the Great Story

Last evening our family watched the Sound of Music at East Juniata High School. The students did a great job with the musical performance. During intermission, my mind had time to wander a bit. (imagine that!) I realized how much we all enjoy a good story. Movies and plays are the medium frequently used in storytelling today. However, not only do we utilize movies, the ancient art of verbal storytelling is alive and well. Earlier today I worked at the Farmshow. I had barely clocked in until someone began to tell me a story of something that had happened to another security guard earlier in the month. Grandmothers and athletes, fisherman and shoppers all love to tell the story, and quite frankly, good storytellers are entertaining.

Unfortunately our love of the story almost never gets utilized when we interact with the greatest story of all time. It is a story of God's interaction with us, our creation, our rebellion, and most grand of all, His redemption and the acceptance of love. It is a love story, a story of love spurned and love received. In our efforts to be doctrinally sound, we have diminished the power of the glorious love story and relegated it to the status of a rule book.

As long as the story is understood as the Great Story, it consists of life-giving words, words to guide us, words to both inspire and warn us, words that ultimately lead to Jesus and abundant life. On the other hand, if we reduce the Great Story to a set of rules, confusion and conflict, strife and division occur. As a rulebook, the greatest theme in the Great Story is lost, the theme of relationship with God.

There was a time when I was afraid to embrace the Great Story. I was afraid that to call it a story would mean I was minimizing the power of it. To call the Bible a story seemed sacrilegious. However, I have come to learn that the reduction of the story occurs, not when I understand it as the Great Story, but as I interpret it as a set of rules.

the simplicity of Jesus

I grew up in a setting where Christianity was defined by a set of actions. Christians went to church on Sunday. Christians didn't drink alcohol. Christians dressed a certain way. If one did not engage in these behaviors, then obviously they weren't a Christian. Beyond that, sacrifice for God was seen as both desirable and honorable. For many years, those external behaviors encapsulated Christianity for me.

A turning point for me occured when I realized that I really did not know Jesus. Now don't get me wrong. I knew about Jesus; the Jesus who came to die so I could go to heaven someday. However, I didn't KNOW Jesus. I had preached about Him, baptized in His name, and started churches for Him. However I didn't KNOW Him. The Jesus I knew about was one that I had been given as a child by my religious tradition. I realized that I created a Jesus with which I was comfortable.

As a result of my realization, for several years I read and re-read the gospel accounts of Jesus. I attempted to read each account as if I had never heard about Jesus. Wow! Talk about a mind transformation. I discovered a Jesus that rocked my world theologically. (i.e. - Jesus never stated that He came so we might go to heaven.) In spite of my discomfort, I began to live my life more in accordance with His example.

Today, my walk with God is much more simple than it was earlier. If someone asks me if I am a Christian, I usually respond with "I am a follower of Jesus". I quit trying to build a successful minstry. As I have allowed my interaction with Jesus to re-shape me, I have become more in touch with "love God and love your neighbor". I have discovered life, abundant life as I have followed Him.

Don't make Christianity difficult. Live life according to the example and teaching of Jesus. It really is that simple.

the problem of truth

Recently I received an email from a gentleman outlining why he thought there will be food shortages in the near future. (I am on his email list and get emails from him at times.) He felt like God has been showing him about the chaos that will ensue. He cited several websites as well as a news interview. Since I work in the agricultural field, I was interested in reading what was said. Almost immediately, I spotted some inaccuracies in the "facts" that were presented. Truth did not support his claims

I responded to the gentleman pointing out that some of on what he was basing his email was not truth. Since I have dialogued with him before, I expected a healthy dialogue. To my surprise, I received a rather curt response. He responded by saying that the "facts" were not about American agriculture. I found his response odd since the interviewer clearly asked about the situation in the United States. When noted the words of the interviewer, he refused to dialogue further.

His response to me illustrated a condition of far too many Christians. We frequently create a belief system about a person or a situation which may or may not align with truth. If our belief system does not mesh with the truth, we simply ignore truth so we can cling to our desired beliefs. As such we place ourselves in bondage, creating a fantasy reality in which we live. To maintain our fantasy reality, we have to continue to ignore what really is.

Since the truth sets us free, it would seem to me that people would desire truth. Unfortunately we often choose to ignore the truth about situations and/or people because it would shatter our self-designed deceptions. One of the classic responses of people who refuse to see/embrace truth is their refusal to dialogue. Dialogue will reveal their deception. Since the deception is more desirable than truth (at least to them), the deception must be protected at all costs.

I understand the difficulty of having my belief system challenged by truth. However, I have also discovered the great freedom that comes from walking in the light of what is truth. Embrace the truth...it will set you free.

we make it too hard

I've been wondering lately if we don't make this walk with God too hard. When I read the Gospels and the accounts of Jesus life, I am continually impressed with the simplicity of His ministry. He had one basic focus - I do what I see the Father doing. He had two basic commandments - Love God and love people.

Jesus never seemed to spend time building a great ministry structure. (Although we know He had a treasurer). Jesus never talks about fundraising in any of the recorded accounts. (Even though we know people supported Him out of their personal means). He never gave Himself a lofty title. In fact He referred to Himself as the son of man. He certainly could have legitimately pulled rank and demanded that people acknowledge Him as the Son of God. Yet that was and is not the Jesus way. He never needed certain perks for validation.

What did Jesus do? He healed the sick, gave hope to the hopeless, and mingled with needy sinners. He washed dirty feet, fed the hungry, and blessed the kids. Ultimately He gave His life for the benefit of people. And while this sacrifice culminated at the cross, it was not just at Calvary that He demonstrated this attitude. His entire "ministry" consisted of pouring Himself into broken people. He did not minister to people because He had a grand ministry structure. He ministered to people because He cared.

What would happen today if His followers began to simply pour their life into the life of other people. What would happen if we quit trying to build great ministries with great conferences and events and began to love people in a practical way? What would happen if we quit trying to get people to come to us and we went to them and washed their feet? What would happen if we began to discern the work of God in the world and then began to participate in that work? What would happen if our only code of conduct was - Love God and love people?