Insights from the Boss

Words that positively describe what God's kingdom is like are: family, community, friendship, brother(sister)hood, and mission.

By contrast, church, as we commonly experience it, is known by words like: institution, doctrine, maintenance, and services.

I have been praying that God would guide me toward a deeper experience and understanding of discipleship. Everything I read, the people I am meeting, the experiences I am having are all driving me toward a deeper appreciation of the relational nature of discipleship.

Rick Warren has noted that most Christians appreciate that they are called to a relationship to Jesus for their salvation, but they fail to appreciate that they are also called to relationship with one another for spiritual maturity. Christianity is relational business.

Discipleship is something akin to a life-long romance.

Bruce Springsteen:

You and me we were the pretenders
We let it all slip away
In the end what you don't surrender
Well the world just strips away

It is innate to our human nature to be passionate. But not just passionate about anything, Passionate about something worthy of our lives. Probably the first time we experience the full power of this is when we "fall in love".

"Falling in love" is a fairly easy to do. Sustaining love through the course of a lifetime is far more demanding. Many couples are passionate early on, but a much smaller percentage maintain passion over substantial time.

I wish we could, for just a little while, table the right-vs-wrong doctrine, institutional maintenance manner of thinking about Christianity. Instead, evaluate ourselves against a relational, romance model of thinking about Christianity.

-> What degree of passion do I have for Christ?
-> Am I passionate about God's kingdom advancing in this fallen world?
-> Do I love the people of the community?
-> Am I willing to be in relationship with the people of the community?
-> Am I giving deeply of my time and money?
-> Am I changing to better orient myself to the call of Christ?

Again, Bruce Springsteen:

Oh [church] that feeling of safety you prize
Well it comes at a hard, hard price
You can't shut off the risk and the pain
Without losing the love that remains

I think being true to a romance (love) will get us farther along than institutional maintenance.

What do you think?