As I am reading "ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church," I am becoming convicted that something radical needs to be done in the church. I am talking about at the level of Reformation proportions.
One of the things that Hirsch and Frost point out is that we have to stop going back and looking at our denominational leaders to see what we need to become. We need to go back to Jesus to see how we should live. As I was reading the chapter "ReJesus and Personal Renewal," I was looking up the verses that were referenced. One of the verses was Matthew 4:19 where Jesus said, "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
"Follow Me." What does that mean? Is following Jesus just making the statement that you believe in him? Was the follow me statement made to his disciples so they would just walk around with him? No. The "follow me" statement means that we become like Jesus. We live on earth, like he lived on earth.
The problem is that we have locked him out of our institutions because he calls us to live a radical lifestyle. At least it is radical to most of western Christianity. It is not radical to the world. The world misses the presence of Jesus. The world is starved for the presence of Jesus.
I can't believe I am going to embed this youtube video. The reason I am going to embed it is because it is the world crying out for the church to be more like Jesus. As Frost and Hirsch point out, "Sinead O'Conner, who in 2007 released her album "Theology," an anthology of reflections on various Old Testament passages that cry out in anguish for a faith not stained by the church that bears God's name. Raised Catholic, the brunt of her attacks has invariably been born by the church of her childhood, but the sting in her beautiful songs can be felt by any church or denomination that shuts Jesus out of its religious system."
The song is based on Psalm 130. Listen and tell me what you think.
1 comment:
Good tune. It's a really good album.
The lyrics here represent how we've co-opted God to fit our own agenda. Her premise defines God how we define him, with limits and laws and lines. It reminds me of Gulliver's travels, where Gulliver is a giant, and all of the little people are tying him down with small ropes and stakes.
To be sure, God can break the ropes, but He won't violate our actions.
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