Quote of the Day: "Be the change you want to see in the world." -Gandhi
Song of the Day: "Cry in My Heart" - Starfield

Note: This blog is kind of a continuation of June 14, so if you are new, please read that one first. =)

This morning over breakfast I decided to begin reading "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shaine Claiborne, since I now leave his book "Jesus for President" (which I am currently reading) in my car so I can read it when I have pockets of time to do so.

I couldn't get halfway through the introduction without stopping to wipe away the tears that blurred my vision as I read.
Reading his words was like hearing a song that relates to my life so acutely that I feel as though the singer wrote it for me, or that I could have written it.
It was like a breeze upon my face that takes me back to when I was a child and reminds me of who I really am.
But most of all, it was the feeling that I get when I've lost something, only I lost it so long ago that I've forgotten that it is lost; and then finding it, by some strange providence, and remembering how I loved it so, and wondering why I let it stay lost for so long, and asking why I let myself forget.

Let me share some of the words in the introduction to Shaine's book (no, I haven't gotten past the introduction yet):

"There is a movement bubbling up that goes beyond cynicism and celebrates a new way of living, a generation that stops complaining about the church it sees and becomes the church it dreams of," (pg. 24).


To understand why I am so moved by Shaine's words, you must understand a bit of my history...

I grew up in the church. When I was younger (around ten- to 12-years-old), I naively read about Jesus and took Him seriously. When He said, "Follow Me," I heard, "Be like Me." Period.
But I soon "learned" under the churches' teaching that actually being like Jesus was unpractical, unrealistic, etc.
And who was I to argue with such a philosophy? After all, these people had been Christians a lot longer than I had. They had to know what they were talking about. Instead of teaching me to be like my Rabbi and showing me how to imitate Him, they gave me other ways to "be like Jesus", such as:
tithing ten percent, going to church regularly, reading my bible every day, and wearing a cross around my neck.
As I grew older, I realized (thank the Lord) that none of those things have anything to do with following Christ. After all, Jesus never had anything to put in the offering plate--as far as we know, He paid taxes by taking a coin from the mouth of a fish--and there are only three records of Jesus ever setting foot in the equivalent of a church--and when He did, He made people angry.
As for reading the bible every day, well, Jesus probably had the whole thing memorized since Hebrew boys were required to memorize at least the first 5 books, if not the whole Tanakh. Jesus spent time alone with God, but He didn't carry a scroll with Him.
When Jesus died, He bore the cross with more love than we could ever fathom, and yet we wear a piece of silver or gold around our necks as we walk away from our cross instead of carrying it like Jesus taught us to.

In my early teenaged years, I believed that I could be like Jesus by obeying the great commission and becoming a missionary. I began in my own town, with a group called Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF). I spent my summer teaching bible lessons to kids in various homes on the island of Oahu, HI. I made a few converts, but unfortunately, I made no disciples.
This was not what Jesus had in mind when He sent us out into all the world.
He said, "Make disciples," and instead I told kids that unless they accepted Jesus as their Savior, God, who is just, would have no choice but to send them to a place called Hell for all eternity.

Thanks be to God, the Author of all creation and the provider of salvation to all that He has made for delivering me from those lies! May He continue to set the church free from the doctrines of man, which twist and corrupt the gospel into nothing more than an empty threat.

I hate what has happened to the church, and yet, I'm still in love with her.
I walk into church buildings and understand the devotion behind what has kept them standing.
I sing hymns and praise songs, and as my voice joins the others, I hear one voice, praising God.
Because of the church, have heard the scriptures read in many times and many ways, over and over, until the scripture permeates my being and I cannot think except in the context of the truth learned from it.

I have just as much to censure the church about as unbelievers do, yet I live with the hope that things will change. Brian McLaren says things MUST change.

I see the church as a people deceived for so long that they don't even know how to distinguish truth from lies anymore. And they're too comfortable in their own ways, homes, and lives, to even think about learning something new, considering that they might have been wrong all this time.

They are sheep, lead astray by the Deceiver, following the crowd.

But I'm also a lamb, and maybe if ordinary radicals like me began to jump off a cliff into the great unknown to be like Jesus in a real way, one by one, the rest would follow.

My heart has always known there is a better way. A way to live that defies the system, resists conformity, and "spreads love like violence" (borrowed from lyrics of Angels and Airwaves).
So instead of complaining about the church, I'm going to start changing it one disciple at a time.

Grace and peace,
rAch