Community... Part 1
After yesterday's random ramble (I'm not entirely sure where I was planning on going when I started that, but it finished somewhere else entirely!), here are some important thoughts on community...
First off, community is one of the basic principles of life, but particularly of the Christ-follower's life. If one follows Jesus, they are in community. In fact, Jesus established a community we like to call "the church." The church is otherwise known as the body of Christ, but is more known today as hypocritical, anti-gay, too political, out of touch/date (code for irrelevant!), judgmental, and more [read Gabe Lyons and Dave Kinnamon's book UnChristian to learn more]. Now, each of those critiques is honest, important, and something we need to deal with. If not, we (meaning all of us) will render God's community as something devoid of power and very much the irrelevant antique some think it is!).
Let's start with the first: hypocritical. I know we've all heard people say things like, "I don't go to church because of all the hypocrites." My ready answer is, "Well, you really ought to come anyway because we could always use one more." Oooooh, burn. But, in seriousness now, this is the most important problem people have with the church. They see us live lives that are no different yet claim something has changed and that we are different. This isn't new, just being seen to a larger degree because of technology. I mean, what does your Facebook profile/comments/etc. say about you? Does it match the "religious preference" you listed? I know I list my religion as "Christ-follower... AKA, Christian" and am the professional Christian (you know, working full-time for the church), but sometimes comment in things that don't necessarily paint my Jesus in a very good light. This goes back to Booty-God-Booty (read the post from Tuesday if you don't know what I'm talking about), because we make God a part of our lives instead of our life. This is the change that we need to make to defeat hypocrisy: make God part of everything you do. Whether its dating, school, work, home, sports, band/orchestra, acting/debate/forensics, friends, a party, or church take God there and allow Him to be as much a part of that as anything else...
Now on to number two: anti-gay. If you follow my blog (the full review was back on September 14), you've seen me talking about W.P. Campbell's book, Turning Controversy into Church Ministry: A Christlike Response to Homosexuality. It's all about how we respond to homosexuality and I agree completely with his analysis. We cannot mince words and say something is okay that is sin, but we also need to be loving and show grace. Or better yet, to quote one of my favorite comedians (Michael Jr.), "Someone asked me the other day if I was pro-gay. I said, 'Dang, I didn't even know there was a league for that.' I mean, I'm not amateur gay, much less pro-gay." Often churches pick sides out of misguided efforts to push grace or truth. Some are far off the path preaching total acceptance and grace no matter what while others are far off the path on the other end preaching total condemnation as if this was some extra special sin that God really hated. The sad part is, they are both right in small measures. Sin is sin and God hates sin, but God gave His own son so we wouldn't have to live under the weight of that condemnation and could experience life as He meant it to be! To be seen as something other than anti-gay, the church (meaning us!) needs to show love and extend grace. Sin is still sin (don't flinch from that truth!), but God's grace is sufficient for any sin from greed/lust to homosexuality and everywhere in between...
Tomorrow I'll pick back up and we'll talk some more about the other issues I've rattled off...
First off, community is one of the basic principles of life, but particularly of the Christ-follower's life. If one follows Jesus, they are in community. In fact, Jesus established a community we like to call "the church." The church is otherwise known as the body of Christ, but is more known today as hypocritical, anti-gay, too political, out of touch/date (code for irrelevant!), judgmental, and more [read Gabe Lyons and Dave Kinnamon's book UnChristian to learn more]. Now, each of those critiques is honest, important, and something we need to deal with. If not, we (meaning all of us) will render God's community as something devoid of power and very much the irrelevant antique some think it is!).
Let's start with the first: hypocritical. I know we've all heard people say things like, "I don't go to church because of all the hypocrites." My ready answer is, "Well, you really ought to come anyway because we could always use one more." Oooooh, burn. But, in seriousness now, this is the most important problem people have with the church. They see us live lives that are no different yet claim something has changed and that we are different. This isn't new, just being seen to a larger degree because of technology. I mean, what does your Facebook profile/comments/etc. say about you? Does it match the "religious preference" you listed? I know I list my religion as "Christ-follower... AKA, Christian" and am the professional Christian (you know, working full-time for the church), but sometimes comment in things that don't necessarily paint my Jesus in a very good light. This goes back to Booty-God-Booty (read the post from Tuesday if you don't know what I'm talking about), because we make God a part of our lives instead of our life. This is the change that we need to make to defeat hypocrisy: make God part of everything you do. Whether its dating, school, work, home, sports, band/orchestra, acting/debate/forensics, friends, a party, or church take God there and allow Him to be as much a part of that as anything else...
Now on to number two: anti-gay. If you follow my blog (the full review was back on September 14), you've seen me talking about W.P. Campbell's book, Turning Controversy into Church Ministry: A Christlike Response to Homosexuality. It's all about how we respond to homosexuality and I agree completely with his analysis. We cannot mince words and say something is okay that is sin, but we also need to be loving and show grace. Or better yet, to quote one of my favorite comedians (Michael Jr.), "Someone asked me the other day if I was pro-gay. I said, 'Dang, I didn't even know there was a league for that.' I mean, I'm not amateur gay, much less pro-gay." Often churches pick sides out of misguided efforts to push grace or truth. Some are far off the path preaching total acceptance and grace no matter what while others are far off the path on the other end preaching total condemnation as if this was some extra special sin that God really hated. The sad part is, they are both right in small measures. Sin is sin and God hates sin, but God gave His own son so we wouldn't have to live under the weight of that condemnation and could experience life as He meant it to be! To be seen as something other than anti-gay, the church (meaning us!) needs to show love and extend grace. Sin is still sin (don't flinch from that truth!), but God's grace is sufficient for any sin from greed/lust to homosexuality and everywhere in between...
Tomorrow I'll pick back up and we'll talk some more about the other issues I've rattled off...
Comments
Post a Comment