I hear many saying what I would say, "Yeah, right. That's what all the churches say when they attempt to give the sales pitch for why they want you to choose them over the church down the street."
In our case, I proudly believe we are not the norm among the churches in America. Although, we do find ourselves in some good company.
The American church, at least the headlining American church, has not done well at being Christ to their neighborhood, their nation, and the world.
The words of Ghandi have echoed through me head for years:
"I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
I fell in love with the Early Church. A church made up of people who had grown disillusioned until Jesus reenchanted their world.
This is a Jesus who reveealed into human history a God so good that humanity struggles to fully conceive of that God to this day. Even as that God enfleshed before human eyes, his own followers struggled to grasp him. It was incomprehensible that a god would merge with human flesh, creating an indivisible unity between divine being and human being, as the divine came down into the mud and sweat of our world, but Jesus reveals that God. It was further incomprehensible that a god would come into humanity and find glory in sinking low to serve others, but Jesus reveals that God. It was most incomprehensible that a god would allow themselves to be killed by their creation, even more to be killed and not come back with a vengeance, but Jesus speaks forgiveness to his killers and his first word to his friends who mostly abanadoned him at his death is, "Peace."
Jesus revealed a God without enemies among humanity, and the most popular Bible verse for the first 300 years of the Church was Jesus' directin to love our enemies.
Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Jesus is the entire character of God. That is, God is nothing other than who Jesus is. Colossians 2:9 echoes this. It tells us that the fullnes of God was in Jesus. This means that as we endeavor to put together the puzzle of who God is, Jesus makes up the border pieces.
Anything we would put together of the puzzle of who God is, must fit within the bounds of Jesus.
God is not, "Jesus plus [anything]."
God is Jesus.
God is, "Jesus plus nothing."
Jesus says that his words and deeds were only the Father's. To see Jesus climb upon the cross was not to see see the Father acting upon Jesus so that the Father could be reconciled to us through the blood sacrifice of his Son. Jesus' ascencion to be nailed to the cross was the Father being nailed to the cross.
God did not need reconciled to us. Since the Garden of Eden story, we read of a God who comes towards us, even when we do wrong. It is us who flee God and put a tree between him and us. So, God ascends the tree that humanity uses to literally seek to separate themselves from God on earth. And from the tree of separation, God speaks the words of reconciling forgiveness. Words that reconcile us to him. Because the problem has always been us, not him.
There are so many thoughts! These thoughts trace back to the Apostles and the Early Church Fathers. These thoughts still run through much of the global church.
It is to the foundation of these thoughts, that we seek to recenter ourselves and regroup a fractured American church.
Please, explore more as we fill out our new site!
Pastor Jason