If you don't have Jesus you don't have jack

I visited a local church today as part of my philosophy class requirement and came away incredibly upset by the experience. This a church I've been hearing about for some time and I was really looking forward to visiting it but by the end of the service it was all I could do not to stand up and start yelling at the pastor. I kept thinking that at some point he'd say what I expect to hear in any church that is truly a church, but he never did. Not once did he mention sin, repentance, and most importantly there was no mention of Jesus being the only way to heaven. In fact throughout the entire service of singing, praying, and the message, none of these things was touched on. In fact I don't think I heard the name of Jesus mentioned once.

This may seem incredibly obvious but I'll say it any anyway; if you don't have Christ at the center of what you're doing, you don't have Christianity. You have a group of nice, moral, caring people who are going to Hell. I'm glad they care about the city and in particular the downtrodden and mistreated but if the Gospel of Jesus' redemptive work through His life, death, and resurrection, isn't at the heart of what you're doing you're doing it in vain. What I attended this morning was a meeting for spiritual/religious people who want to have the trappings of a church (worship music, prayer, sermon) without the message of the church. The pastor kept making references to "speaking and living the truth" without ever saying what that truth was. You can't live and speak something you don't know, and these people don't truly know Jesus and His message therefore they don't know The Truth.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - Jesus, John 14:5-7

Also if there is no sin then why did Jesus have to come and pay for it with his life? If there's no sin then Christians have the most dumb, pointless, and useless belief system in the world. If there's no sin there is no reason for Jesus to come and die, which means we believe in a God who is either small minded and simple, or incredibly cruel, neither of which is worth following. So if Christianity is true then sin is real.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." - Romans 3:23

If we really, truly love the world we will tell them the hard truth: No one is good enough to get into Heaven on their own and it's only by believing that Jesus is the only payment for our sins that we will be allowed into Heaven. And that is The Truth.

Children of the world vs. children of God

I just got done watching the Oasis documentary "Lord Don't Slow Me Down" as an Oasis fan I loved it, but I was also struck by the world view. Noel, Liam, and the boys are very up front about their self centeredness it comes out in the way they talk with writers and each other, the way they live, it just permeates everything about their lives, they are quite obviously wrapped up in themselves. It got me thinking about how Christians are supposed to be that wrapped up and absorbed in Christ. What would it look like if we were as Christ centered as the world is self centered? How would that change things? Our lives, our churches, our communities, our world? Obviously that's a rhetorical question, we all know it would make a lot of things better, maybe not easier (just read the book of Acts), but better. People who are as wrapped up in Jesus and His Gospel and mission as the rest of the world is in their own agenda shake things up. They make a difference that can't be ignored, the world can't go without noticing their actions and words. Christians living passionately Gospel centered lives must be dealt with sooner or later by the world, are they nut jobs? Or is their Jesus really the one and only way to Heaven? May God gives us the strength, courage, and desire to live lives that are focused on the person and work of Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

What happens if you just type?

I honestly don't have anything to say, I just have this overwhelming urge to write...., so here we go. Mostly I just find the sound of the keyboard soothing. There's something about that lite tap, tap, tap, sound that enamours me. The way the keys feel as the give way to your finger tips, your will, your creative juices...., it empowering and comforting all that same time. Especially when you don't have anything you HAVE to or NEED to say...., when you just let the words pour out like water. Sometimes wondering along like a gentle brook, other times gushing out like torrid, raging river that can't be held back. People have found their comfort in words for years, whether in writing an epic tail or through the telling of an ancient fable words have untied and at the same time divided people. A well placed word can earn you favor with kings, a poorly placed one can get you killed. Words that bear truth have the ability to change the course of lives, nations, empires, all of history. Words full of falsehood can betray, kill, steal, and impoverish just as quickly. Words...., words...., can heal the broken and break the haughty. They can bring comfort to your soul, even when they have no meaning. Simply giving yourself a voice can make you feel released, refreshed, safe. Calm, peaceful, just listening the to the keyboard...., that's all I really needed to take myself to another place. To quit caring about the rest of the world and what they think, and just type until I don't want to anymore.

The Last Ten Years....

Today was one of those days where I didn't wake up on the wrong side of the bed, I woke up on the weird side of the bed. You know, one of those days where everything seems like a dream you can't wake up from...., I always find myself stuck between apathy and second guessing myself on these kinds of days. I usually wish I could go back to my sophomore or junior year of high school and redo the last 10 or 11 years of my life. I have this crazy idea that if I could that somehow I do things "right" and by the time I got to be 27 again my life wouldn't be such a mess. But I realized something today, that even if I could go back I have no idea what I would do. Which is encouraging and scary at the same time. On the one hand it's nice to know that I haven't jacked things up so bad that there's some major thing I wish I could undo, but at the same time I'm almost 28 and I still have no idea what direction to take entirely, which is not really a happy thought. I actually laughed out loud when I realized this earlier today. That if I could go back, I'm not sure I'd change anything and even if I did I'm not sure it wouldn't make my life even more messier then it already is. Or, I could have a successful looking life, but be dieing on the inside. So I guess the bottom line is I'm not thrilled with my life, but I'm not sure I'd be willing to risk going back and changing it either.

Things that make me feel old

Cell Phones: I remember when getting a phone in my room was a big deal. Now I have one in my pocket.

Sheryl Crow's song "I can't cry anymore": I was 14 when it came out. I heard for the first times in years today and realized....., well I'm not sure what, but it made me feel old.

Anything by the Spin Doctor's: I heard them today too....., man I really need to quit listening to the radio.

mp3's: I can remeber dancing around the living room to records when I was growing up, now we listen to music in tiny little digital things.

Having a car payment: Heck, I could have just said having a car, but the fact that I know enough about money to balance my expenses is pretty mind blowing to the 8 year old in me.

The church and the Gospel

I’ve been thinking about this since church Sunday, the difference between people who go to church and people who are the church. I know this this has been talked, wrote, and debated about to death but there’s something about sitting in church that makes me rethink the idea of church.

Here are some of the things that crossed my mind:

How do we get people to quite thinking about church as something you do and instead as something you are? Is there a way? Because honestly I’d rather be surrounded by 10 people who are passionately in love with Jesus and proclaiming His Gospel and encouraging me to do likewise, then with 300 who are just there because church is what you “do” on Sundays and our church building has the most comfortable chairs to take a nap in in the area.

What’s with our fascination with numbers and programs? We say that they don’t matter but we seem so reluctant to let them go. I know some programs are necessary (like training and discipleship for example) but do we really need something every night of the week? How are people supposed to build relationships and live the Gospel with world around them if we keep them busy all the time? Or what if they have the time to do those things but we’re not actively, publicly, encouraging them too pursue that course of action?

We admit that church is messy, but then act like it’s not. What’s the point in having people meet together in groups (small groups, community groups, cell groups, whatever catch phrase your church has attached to it) if real, raw, honest, communication isn’t happening? If we can’t admit we’re jacked up sinners still very much in need of the Gospel ourselves to each other how are we ever going to get our people to be that honest with unbelievers? The Gospel message will not be attractive at all to the world around us if the people who are trying to live/share it are pretending to be something they’re aren’t. Namely, perfect.

Granted there are more things that could go here, and this is a bit of a personal rant that should be taken with a grain of salt, but I think there are plenty of us who sit in a building on Sunday and from time to time wonder “how did we get here? Is this really the best we can do?”