WHEN JESUS ENTERS THE CHURCH

Jesus' leadership is surely baffling to the ordinary concept of being, what we would assume, a point-person.  He carried no sword.  He owned know pulpit.  Neither did he have the community powers-that-be in his hip pocket.  Jesus was just out there in the midst of the hurting, the forgotten, the neglected, the lonely, and the abused.

Jesus honored Father; not himself.  He was incredibly available to the powerless.  Too, he seemed to intentionally identify with commoners.  After all, isn't that why God came to earth in the first place?  To experience earthmanship in human form?

One of my favorite things about this Son of Man is that he successfully made the much needed break from worshipping religion and all of its rules.  He so did not go there that the leaders of such played the jail-card which eventually led to his execution.

Churches are struggling today because religion does what religion will do; weight us down.  Church location nor funds nor programs are the culprits to be blamed.  The buying into religious formatting is.  He told us and told us and told us that repetitious habits and regulatory rules would not produce.  The Pharisees insisted they would...but they didn't.  All the while, we preach against the Pharisaic stumblings while, simultaneously, grasping to imitate their controlling nature.

When Jesus enters the church we can anticipate new direction, challenging the status quo, from generation to generation.  Refreshing approaches to Kingdom work often eventually develop into more repressing habits which constantly bid for support when they have long past lost their cutting edge of success.  But how we try...and how we debate...and how we defend...all the while studying in our Bible classes how Jesus rattles the religious culture.

We so subtly assume that we are not like them.

Nothing has changed.  The Good News is that Jesus saw through man's need for power via structure and regulation.  Churches have never met anyone like the tender, brave, and insightful Son of God.  We know it.  We believe it.  But we must help one another have the courage to dare step out onto the the threatening waters of hope with the faith in his call to move closer to him. 

As we make progress toward Jesus, the back doors to our gatherings will be closed.  The front doors will need a larger Welcome mat.