God finds Us.
Depending on whom you ask, opinions differ on Christians and church. People seem to like Jesus, but many just often reject those who claim to follow him.
Why?
I mean, if we are going to claim to follow Jesus, shouldn’t the way we interact with the world reflect his life and teachings? When people encounter us shouldn’t they walk away from the experience having encountered Christ in us? I’m not talking about a façade of niceties, but rather a spirit of acceptance of their humanity and grace; dignity and honor as one of God’s children?
Since when does a religion get to take ownership of God’s presence in this world and lay claims to God’s "rules" for grace?
I was asked yesterday what I wanted to do in my ministry. My simple answer is to help people hold hands with God. When I look at Jesus that seemed to be his simple plan-- he longed for folks to connect to God by awakening to God’s presence in their lives. And the key manner in which he helped folks connect to God was by receiving folks where they were on their journey as a loving, incarnational presence of God.
The times I find Jesus most angry in the scriptures is when religion gets in the way of people encountering God. When religious people or religion gets in the way of people making a connection with God, it pisses Jesus off... and it should piss us off too.
The question is, where does my religion get in the way of folks encountering God?
In other words, Jesus did not help folks find God-- rather, as the face of God, he found people.
God went looking for us.
And when God found us, God did not chastise us,
God embraced us. God reached out and loved us
In a way that when we felt the true touch of God we could not deny
that we had just encountered the One.
Fear make get folks to conform to rules, but love changes things. God falling in love with humanity changes God from a God to be feared to a God to be adored. God falling in love with us changes the way we see one another and enables us to fall madly in love with God.
Doctor Hump made the following comment on my blog recently and I thought I would share it here.
"We all have a journey and a story that is uniquely ours, but the common thread seems to be that in each of our lives someone loved God enough to take a chance at loving us, and it was through that act that I began to imagine the height and depth and breadth of the love of God. The Jesus who was alive in my friend helped me find the Jesus in me. Can there be a higher call? Tithing? Great. Worship? Fantastic. Service? Important. But to love another person the way God loves me? That's what it means to be the church."
10 Comments:
I recently spent sometimes study the word on love. It's a hard thing.
If we don't love God, we can't love people.
And in loving "outsiders", Jesus demands us to cross a lot of boundaries.
And we thought we could be safe and just love the "insiders". There Jesus demands that we love as He loves us, laying down our life for the church.
Aah - it's easier to be just a "Christian" and not following Jesus like you said!
Lord teach me how to pray...
Lord teach me how to LOVE....
That photo is amazing. I agree with what Bumble and BJK said.
http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp
Hope you don't mind...i stole a piece of this for my blog...and credited your blog and gave them a link...good thoughts.
Rick, you rock.
You must have been pretty darn young when Buffalo Springfield was around - maybe you weren't even born yet???
"...My simple answer is to help people hold hands with God."
Yes-
I have quoted you at my sight (I hope you do not mind.) I enjoy your presence here, your simplicity, and your message.
Namaste'
This is such a crazy tension...
There's God's justice - He must be "just" and allow a choice to have a consequence so that we face what we deserve.
There's God's mercy - He allows us to not alway face the full measure of our choices so that we don't fully face what we deserve.
There's God's grace - He redeems our choices and turns them into something we could never deserve.
Then there's the reality that He is holy and unapproachable - in His holiness He is terrifyingly awesome and beyond our gazes and glimpses.
Not to mention the reality that he is person and approachable - in His incarnation He is surprisingly tender and tough, close enough to know yet far enough ahead to be our example.
What a mighty, mysterious God.
Beautiful brother and dead on.
Your post reminds me of some things I'd unfortunately forgotten in my practice recently. Thanks.
On a different note, I love the pictures you're including with your posts. Your blog is becoming as beautiful aesthetically as it is spiritually.
Love,
Jon
I love this, Rick. It speaks my heart pretty clearly...
I think every graduating seminarian should be required to answer the question, "Where does my religion - my understanding of God and salvation and all the rest of my theology - get in the way of folks encountering God?" Might just save some lives...
On the subject of Who finds who in this relationship with God, my first preaching professor, Eugene Lowry, spoke about Christian influences on jazz, and jazz influences on the theology of the day. As part of that lecture, he spoke about the hymn "Amazing Grace."
He said, "So many people think they need to find God in order to find salvation. Wesleyan theology doesn't say that... You remember those folks who had those bumper stickers a while ago that said, 'I found it!'? It was not a Methodist behind the wheel, I can assure you of that!"
He went on,"I mean, what kind of theology does that get you with this hymn? 'I once was lost, but now I found it? No, no no - 'I once was lost, but now AM FOUND.' It's not us doin' the findin', is it?"
Sometimes, I need it just that simple. That's why I find such joy in what you write, brother!
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