In reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angryand yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. (Ephesians 4:22-27)

If you have read much of my writing you know that here, In The Middle With Mystery, I am frequently lodging a protest to much of what I have previously been taught, believed and practiced. Given the sacred nature of our beliefs this is like walking through a mine field. Therefore I type with a fair amount of fear and trembling. After all, who am I to to propose that I have found some higher path? However it is coming off, I am really just trying to tell the story I perceive God is writing in my heart and it is, at best, an imperfect art.

My writing is a protest against ideas deeply engrained in our western Christian mindset. My story includes the (painful) discovery that protests are not welcome. The protest that raised the biggest stink was that we don’t think of church in the same way they did in scripture. The most obvious difference is that the early church did not revolve around a Pastor’s ministry and his weekly sermon. The quipping the saints along side others with unique gifts for the work of service. As I read the New Testament I see the pastor (mentioned twice in the NT) laboring along side others with unique gifts to equip the saints.

In light of the waining influence of Christianity in the west, I have asked myself, “Are the things we consider fundamental such as seminary, church staffs, budgets, buildings, choirs, sermons and programs a means or a hindrance to God’s kingdom objectives?  The early church had not conceived of these things yet within it, life spread like wildfire through a decentralized, organic movement of saints. Yet, to advance the cause of the kingdom, most of our contemporary strategies involve just working harder and smarter with our traditional methods. I wonder if we are quantifying well the workers who are burning out giving themselves to the harder-and-smarter approach to Christian leadership. I wonder if we are quantifying how many church attenders have burnt out or are burning out as they follow leaders in old wineskin forms of leadership.

I protested enough to get myself lynched right here in the buckle of the bible belt. I avoided the noose of one likely Oxbow Incident by heading the request of my co-elders to keep my thoughts and questions to myself and to not share them with the rank and file of the body of Christ – my brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I walked for two decades.  Upon receiving this request I knew a new chapter of life was about to begin.

However, for us saints who have been given the ministry of reconciliation, every potential lynching can be a place to build up the body of Christ. I have tried to maintain my ties with my leader-friends in the conventional non-profit ministries by following a mandate in our passage today, by….

laying aside falsehood, speaking truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angryand yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.

To their credit, these precious leaders and friends are not tying the hangman’s knot. They remain my friends. We intentionally attempt to carry on a kingdom dialogue that transcends church politics. It’s really not that hard given the heights and the depths of our God and his continual activity in and around us. Yes, tempers flare at times, feelings get hurt; but where we persevere something eternal is being birthed and stewarded. Even though I’m not invited to share in their settings (which I totally get!) we sharpen each other and frequently find Him in the tensions of our dialogue.

The Church for me is no longer a place or an event. Its networks of friends who are being drawn deeper into God’s amazing heart and His unending kingdom. Organizationally, what I see in the New Testament and what I am attempting to mirror more closely resembles Al Qaeda than anything else I can think of. Al Qaeda is represented by pods of fanatical people who are off the radar who ocasionaly lay their lives down, exploding onto the scene spewing hatred and violence.

The Church I am today most familiar with is also in small pods but they are small because you can only love and care well for just so many others.  They too lay down their lives but more on a daily basis as they recognize that they no longer are alone. They have become (as they have been joined to Christ) members of one another obligated to defer one to another. In this sense they are technically no longer their own. They are sensitive to each others deepest and truest needs which at times necessitate speaking the truth in ways that are loving and yet at the same time excruciatingly hard. 

For example, I am aware of a collaboration of a few pods who have no names other than friends who are converging this week on a need with the talents and time God has gifted them with. They too are fanatical in the sense that this labor represents their laying their lives down for their brothers and sisters. Once this need was identified, these pods leapt at their opportunity to give. Even though most of them attend traditional services, they have made the distinction between attending a little “c” church and being the big “C” Church.

These people are those who are laying aside their old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and are being renewed in the spirit of their minds. They are putting on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. I predict the devil will have little opportunity this week. Love has barred the door. 

My deep suspicion is that it was this kind of love one for another that gave credibility to the original gospel of the kingdom and accounted in some measure for its viral growth.  This is the kingdom I am endeavoring to cooperate with and invest in.

Father, may Your Holy Spirit win the day. May we recognize Your presence and activity in us and all around us. Thank you that we live and move and have our being in You. What an astonishing God you truly are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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