When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying "He has gone out of his mind." Look at the people he attracts' smelly, chaotic, unruly, foolish fishermen and dishonest tax-collectors and women of ill repute. Yet they follow this one with pure joy!Can we now become the church of the crazy people? The most joyous church we attended was full of broken and unhealthy people who seemed to be able to capture the spirit of joy that was and is Jesus.
He was a homeless single man, a wandering teacher, a gentle healer, and a teacher of strange stories about the Kingdom of God. Possessed? A powerful metaphor complete with melancholy madness we now see as holiness.
"We can easily forget how strange, how counterculture, how threatening
was the behavior of Jesus." -Robin Meyers Have we lost our minds trying to follow this radical one.
His face we have never seen and his voice is a remembered voice not a recorded one. Each gospel writer sees him a little differently and the truth seems so elusive. Each church or group present him as if they had captured his real spirit. His words tell us what to do not what to believe. A creed that makes us acceptable when he say it word by word not thinking or questioning its meanings.
No matter if we are liberals or conservative Christians we all fall short when we want to be right rather than loving.
Christians have been called many things; weak, prejudiced, predictable and even dull, frightened and stupid. or anti-intellectual. I totally disagree all though there is always a bit of truth mixed in with criticism. Yes some of the things we believe may seem a little crazy but I do not believe delusional.
To truly live a Christian life is not for the faint of heart.
I am thankful for books that make me think on a very rainy day!
No matter if we are liberals or conservative Christians we all fall short when we want to be right rather than loving.
Christians have been called many things; weak, prejudiced, predictable and even dull, frightened and stupid. or anti-intellectual. I totally disagree all though there is always a bit of truth mixed in with criticism. Yes some of the things we believe may seem a little crazy but I do not believe delusional.
The whole concept of sanity in a society where spiritual values have been replaced with lying and
cheating and brutality and greed reveals that our values are all mixed up. Who can we believe? Who can we trust? Where did the notion of a prosperity gospel come from? Not from Jesus.To truly live a Christian life is not for the faint of heart.
I am thankful for books that make me think on a very rainy day!
2 comments:
That certainly was an eye opening way of looking at Jesus. Very interesting. I am lucky that you do all the hard slugging, reading these books and then write about it in a nutshell! It is a lovely late autumn day here...crisp at a high of 4 degrees...but no wind.
I am hoping that the weather holds as my son, Bob, is getting all his teeth out on Monday and we have to be there for 7am....it is 1 1/2 hour drive, one way. He lost his wife a year ago, so Mom is going, to drive him home. He has low platelets so bleeds easily....hoping all goes well.
I see you are in the rainy season now. I always remember my great aunts saying, come to visit us before the middle of October. They lived in New West and we took the train out to visit them every year. During the Winnipeg flood of 1950 ( the great flood ) all kids were shipped out of the city...as there was danger of typhoid...so we got to stay at my great aunties for 2 months!
Stay dry, love Nancy
Yes I do hope your weather holds for that long, early drive.
Interesting story about your visit to New West.
Love beth
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