Can we put aside our traditional differences in the body of Christ?
Can we put aside our doctrinal differences?
Can we set aside our different methodology?
Can we really learn to live loving and caring for each other instead of attempting to force everyone to believe everything as I do?
I don't know about you, but one of the things I have learned in all my years of trying to live as a follower of Jesus is, I don't see everything clearly. Many times a brother or a dear sister have been my eyes. Sometimes they have been my ears. Sometimes they have been my conscience. Sometimes they have been my corrector. I need them.
I have an ugly confession to make. I lived most of my Christian life from a conservative perspective. Liberal Christians just didn't get it. I couldn't see how you could be a follower of Jesus and align yourself with the liberal wing of the Church. One day while talking to a client who is not only a liberal but she is a follower of Christ also, she said to me,"How can someone be a conservative and be a Christian?" Since I had come to really appreciate this person and her heart, I ask her, "What do you mean?" What she said made me think. It did sound like it was in line with the gospel of Jesus. What she said I certainly wasn't living. I went away thinking about it and couldn't shake her question.
Oh, how wrong I had been. I had already started and was having an amazing time reading authors from this side of the Church. I actually found there are folks that vote pro-choice that live more pro-life than most people who I know who vote pro-life and insist you have to, to be a Christian. I was stunned.
Jesus is building an amazing Church. I just needed to open my eyes first to what the Church is, and then look beyond my little domain that I had lived in to see even more of it.
Check out some of these authors: Brian McLaren, Richard Rohr, Greg Boyd, Ann Lamott, Jim Wallis, Dr. Martin Luther King JR. Theologians Stanley Heuerwas, Walter Bruggemann, John Howard Yoder and I know ther are many more I have yet to discover.
The kingdom of God transcends the boundaries we put in place in an attempt to control the thing. Trying to box in the spirit of God is stupid. I mean, come on, let's get real. I want to look beyond what is comfortable for me. I have let go of positions held in the past that were gut-wrenching to let go of. It was a knew found trust in God that enabled me to risk letting go. What I have found on the other side is so wonderfully big and wide open. Looking back I am stunned by some of the things I had held so tightly to thinking they were the very heart of God.
I am living with an expectancy for what God will do next like never before. Hang on, if you take the risk to trust this awesome Father. This is much better than I could have ever dreamed. God's dream for that which he created is here for all. I want to open myself up and live undefended like I believe it all.
Are you up to going for the ride of your life?
5 comments:
isn't it funny...i had been thinking something along these lines just today. oh yes, there are so many brothers and sisters we've yet to meet. here's a person you might enjoy reading. his name is martin l. smith. he wrote one of the very best books on prayer that i have ever read. it's called, "the word is very near you." i highly recommend it. also brennan manning's "ragamuffin gospel" and "abba's child." they were very instrumental in my journey. one way that i discover new authors is that i look at the footnotes and bibliographies of books i already enjoy. brennan manning tends to use alot of quotes from various people so he has put me on to some good ones for sure. also, check out "glittering images" by susan howatch - it's a novel. recently, i found out about an author/thinker/essayist named wendell berry. i bought one of his novels for my husband for christmas and he just absolutely loved it. are you familiar with george macdonald? (not gordon macdonald) he is one of my favorites, too. he wrote alot of fiction, but also nonfiction. his series of unspoken sermons are some of the best things i've ever read. you can find them on the christian classics ethereal library. check out the one called "the eloi"...it's about jesus cry from the cross of "my god, my god why have you forsaken me." well, this is getting a bit long. goodnight!
swills, I was looking at Abba's Child just Yesterday. I love Wendell Berry. I've read a little of George McDonald
Thanks for the suggestions.
I am listening to a teaching from Stanley Heuerwas on the Sermon on the Mount tonight. He is using the writings of Bonhoffer(spelling?) and John Howard Yoder. It is so challenging.
Thanks for leaving commenting.
are you listening to heuerwas online or via audio book? i found a richard rohr lecture online the other day. he was addressing a group in new zealand.
since you are a berry fan, and i am new to him, do you have any suggestions as to what to read next? the novel i got for my husband was "jayber crow." he's also read some of mclaren's books - "generous orthodoxy," "secret message of jesus," and the "new kind of christian" trilogy. i really like listening to brian's sermons from cedar ridge, especially his "god at the movies" series.
I have just read Berry stuff on the net. You can do a word search for Stanley Hauerwas wheaton college sermon on the mount mp3 and find what I was listening to.
Have you listened to The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian from the Cedar Ridge audio files? It is really good.
yes, i have listened to just about everything from cedar ridge's audio section. i like to listen while i draw, and i love to draw...so i've listened to A LOT of things over this past year.
thanks for the heads up on hauerwas.
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