cairns

Reconnected with another old friend tonight, a young man I am very proud of — overcame mistakes of youth to build a life and serve others.

Conversation quickly revealed that his early success in life led to some bad decisions, worse results, and (I wish this part was surprising) rejection by his church.  Another group claiming to represent the God who would die to be with us, by refusing to affiliate with somebody honest enough to admit they are not perfect.  The “we” I have been part of most of my life makes me want to puke.  How do we mess the good news of God’s love up so badly and so often?  Do we really understand it in our own lives?

I am playing with a new idea.  I would like to start getting together on some regular basis with this young man, my “red path” friend, maybe the slightly older friend who has so often told me what is around the next bend in the road, anybody honest enough to be themselves!  Instead of a being a “church,” we would just be us.  Instead of trying to “save” each other we would support each other.  Instead of “applying the Bible with love” in order to pass judgment on each other, we would accept each other as we all stumble homeward.

If this sounds interesting to anybody else who lives near Evansville, think about it and let me know.  I am serious about just getting together with some other people who are ready to be real, to be human and humane, to be together.

peace,

Greg

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A good friend going through hell caused by one of the very people a person is always supposed to be able to trust, opened a chat with me this evening.

Had to ask me if it was safe to express strong negative feelings about the other person.  Apologized if my wife and I have been let down in any way by the other person’s life not following the perfect path everyone imagines.  The pain is so tangible you can feel it coming through short chat window conversation bites.  And yet the questions and apologies seemed necessary to them.  On my end, I was deeply honored and touched to be trusted and allowed to be a friend when friends are all one has.

But Lord!  May God forgive me for every time I have been, or in the future will slip and be, a person that needs to be asked those questions or given that apology!  If we cannot accept each other when life is raw and the need for friends is real, then we have never really accepted each other at all.

If God only loved us when we deserved it, we’d all be toast.  He loves us even while we are running off with the family fortune with the prodigal, when we are the self-righteous self-pitying older brother, and when we are the pigs!  Granted that we express imperfectly all of the virtues, can our standard for caring about each other be any less than unconditional after the love we have been given?  I begin again to understand just how damaging the theologies of God only loving the correct few really are.  They leave even the best of us wondering if we are really good enough when the chips are down.  If we are willing to believe that God rejects “them,” whoever “they” are, then it becomes so easy to believe that we can follow suit.  Then we live in fear that anyone who truly knows us will decide we are “them.”  The only alternative for a truly caring human being is to love, period.  May the Truth break through in fresh and amazing ways that God does exactly that for all of us, leaving no “them.”

This is the Church I love! I love the Church (in a cathedral, a forest, or a prison) when she is a place for wounded ragamuffins to come together brave enough to share the truth (especially when Truth seems far away) and say, “Hold on for me while I am too weak to sustain myself.”  When our cries to each other become heart cries to God, not fodder for gossip filled “prayer chains;”  when we are willing to laugh and sing, but also weep and bleed in unity; when we are willing to “be there” regardless; when we are willing to put aside anything that damages our ability to love as we are loved — That’s Church.  That’s Incarnation.  That’s Communion.  That is when the Kingdom shines through the darkness.

God bless everyone of you who has been and continues to be that kind of friend to, for, and with me (whether you express it in these words or not), you are the Church.  Keep making little moves against the darkness.  You may be the last lifeline.  If you need me, know that my loyalty has no riders or qualifications.  I count on the same from you.

Be blessed.  You are treasured more than prosperity, fame, or mortal life.  You are the visible expression of the invisible God.  Together we will find ourselves a home.

peace

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My students in China did a wonderfully funny song and dance at their senior banquet that started out with lyrics about “I want a prof…”  With many thanks to them, it suggests a format to me for thinking about what I am looking for in a church.  I’ll start it, maybe others will help me clarify.  And, like I tell my students sometimes having  the dream first, makes reality happen.

I want a church with faith strong enough to admit how much we don’t know,

I want a church that worships God because God is too big for us to understand, label, and own.

I want a church that celebrates our diversity, all of it, as evidence of holy creativity beyond our grasp.

I wanna church that expects honesty from hurting, confused, lonely people — us.

I wanna church that recognizes the reality of the ethereal.

I wanna church that doubts the surety of what visibly surrounds us.

I wanna church that hopes (even when we don’t have a vision, mission, goals, and action steps plan).

I wanna church that loves.  period.  But, it can’t be period, it has to be defined.  I wanna church that loves people who do not believe what others believe, do not do what everybody else says they should do, and dare to ask us questions we cannot answer — again us, all of us.

I wanna church that truly believes in the priesthood of all followers of Jesus.

I wanna church that makes (no that’s wrong, that let’s) me think, weep, laugh, dance, pray, grow, go, and stop.

I wanna church that is less like pews of costumed people, and more like a circle of my cousins and friends sitting around a fire in the dark!

Well, that’s a start, … again … later I’ll go back and read and see if its further along than the last time I tried.  All contributions welcome. 8^)

peace

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