I don’t fit in the church world very well. I could go on and on about this, but the reality is I don’t fit very well. People ask me what I believe about this and that with church and the answer is - I am ‘in process.’ What I do know is this:
Matthew 22:34-40
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
That is my theology. Love God, and love other people. It is pretty simple. Maybe it is hyper-post-post-retro- modern I don’t know the proper trendy term to call it, but it is what I believe. You see I follow Christ - and I try and do what Christ says in his Gospels. So, the most important thing I hear him saying is what he said to the religious rulers of his time, Love God and love other people.
So, as I try to figure out what ‘church’ is, I will keep doing that in the mean time. I want to be part of a church where loving God and loving other people is central to what the church believes.
JVD
That can be a good place to be as long as you’re humble and willing to recognize that God is at work in many Christian groups that you may not fully agree with. We never find church groups that do all of what we want. We only find people who are trying to love God the best they know how with all the problems that we ourselves have.
I feel ya Joe. Sorry we miss each other. Enjoy Montana. However, I probably disagree with Parke. I’m not sure that most churches are filled with people who are trying to love God the best. That’sa big statement, I know. And maybe a bit unfair becuase I think most are following the “Evangelical voice” about what a Christian is like. The ideal the evangelical voice portray’s is awfully deceptive at making Christian look like well-rounded, good people. That’snot the goal and when I look at the church I attend I think those are the ideas they are selling. The hard part is that I think they sell that stuff with good intentions.
We never find church groups that do all we want…I think that statement is exactly it. I don’t want a church to do what I want. I want it to focus more clearly on what Jesus desired and modeled. Loved God and loved people. Churches need to align less with what we want mentality.
Maas
Joe, where are you and Danielle going now? I was going to ask on Tuesday, but I forgot. Let’s talk about that when we meet, but I was thinking you might want to check out The Porch. Some good stuff is going on there. I just subbed to your RSS so I’ll be able to read more often. Stay in touch.
Nate