Bishop David Kendall

MISSIONAL FOCI

I am on the home stretch of my annual conference circuit this summer.  Everywhere I’ve been I’ve shared my three-fold expression of mission.

• To be and help others to be like Jesus Christ.  This is at the heart of God’s call to be holy and loving people!
• To love the world the way God did and does—he gave his best, his one and only.
• To follow Jesus to the people, especially the poor, weak and vulnerable who, given the world as it is, stand little chance of embracing and being embraced by the GOOD NEWS.

Everywhere I’m finding huge buy-in on these foci.  I think it’s a sign of growing alignment with kingdom currents moving around and among us!

MUSINGS ON THINGS APOSTOLIC

To speak of things-apostolic has almost become a fad among us, at least some of us.  We insist we once were part of an “apostolic movement,” and we insist that assuming miraculous intervention we shall be again.  I concur and, in fact, believe it our only hope, and our world’s hope, insofar as God has mysteriously and awesomely placed a portion of our world’s well-being in some kind of relation to our obedience!

What in the world—or out of the world—do we mean in our use of “apostolic?”  What a great question, answerable in so many different ways.  And, answerable not only by our FM comrades but also by many others.  Let me offer a partial answer.

“Apostolic,” of course, suggests the term “Apostle,” of which we find a few in the NT, a key document for exegeting “apostolic” in our day.  To aspire toward the apostolic is to lift up “the apostles” of our NT as models.  To do so is to follow a worthy and long history among faithful Christ-followers.  More specifically, we identify the twelve (or the twelve minus the one, plus the one—let the reader understand).  These were the ones who were graced to be in on the STORY first hand—from the preaching of John to the resurrection, ascension, and beyond; the ones who first obeyed the Lord not to depart the city but stay until something happens, or Someone.  These are the ones with whom and for whom, upon whom and through whom it did, in fact, happen, the ones who continued the STORY. 

They understood themselves now to be part of the STORY, indeed key players to their amazement, and many others as well.  At times, it seemed they were actually propelled, borne along by the STORY.  There were not the story-tellers, they were in the flow, carried along by the momentum that had built up and intensified (with little sign of letting up, by the way), so that they were literally not their own, not going where they wished, not living as they preferred, not associating with whomever they chose, but in the company of one another and the OTHER, here and there and wherever the OTHER led. 

They were not the story-tellers, but they did tell the story.  Or, better, they became the story over and over again, so that to be with them and to observe them was to see what this story was all about, to be drawn into it, and to test it out and verify that it was something very good indeed, something primal, tapping deep down to and into bedrock, into what seemed authentic, beautiful, and possible for whosoever will.

Regularly, then, the first to bear the term “apostolic” found their lives revolving around their memory and fresh re-enactment of the Jesus story, and the Spirit of Jesus who continued that story among and through them.  Regularly, then, they learned how their subplot was meant to flow and gave themselves to the flow.  Regularly, they heard from the One whose story they were living about the Story’s ongoing flow and how they could best go with it.  Regularly, they tarried, waited, listened, and heard, and then obeyed.  Regularly, they did such things.  From an outside perspective or vantage point, it must have seemed at least curious and compellingly provocative. Regularly!

Critical Questions for "Born-Again Churches"

I am thinking about how our church might be “born-again.”  As strange as it sounds, we surely believe in such a possibility.  We believe the message of John 3 that we all have the privilege of receiving life from above, which Jesus describes as rebirth.  And, we share a key conviction of the Reformed branch of the family—that the church must be ever reforming.  And, we also belong to a tradition that cherishes the great revivals that have blessed our forebears.  And, most of us have longed and prayed for a fresh visitation of the Holy Spirit in our church.  And, and … and … We do believe in rebirth.  So, why not a church “born-again”?

As members of the larger Methodist family, could we commit to a disciplined process that helps willing people actually become like Jesus and participate in the ongoing mission of Jesus?  Indeed, could we learn to be together as church in a way that carries us toward Jesus-like character and mission?

 

One of the greatest challenges, I think, is to bridge the gap from where we are (which depends on “where we are!” J) to where we need to go (see above paragraph).  We must demonstrate that what we want to do is not new but a rediscovery of historic, biblical, Wesleyan dynamic; that we wish to encourage a restoration movement among us, rebirthing the Church.  Yes, I’ll say it again: the FMC needs to be “born-again, filled with the Spirit, perfected in love, and launched in mission!”  Here are some questions to ponder in the pursuit.

QUESTION: if in some sense we have become “the Church of England” what would John Wesley do?  Or, if we have become "the Methodist Episcopal Church" of our day, what would B.T. Roberts do?  We want to become Wesleyan again, not just in theology but practice!

QUESTION: Could we start a Methodist Movement within the FMC?  What about organizing a “Holy Club”?  We are not lacking in resources or materials to help us.  Who are the seekers, new believers, the desperate, and hungry among us?  They are likely the prime responders to such an invitation.

QUESTION: where are the E.P. Harts among us?  (B.T. Roberts appointed him to “Michigan.”)

What do you think?  How will you pray? 

FLESHING OUT RESURRECTION POWER

“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17). 

So Paul claimed in his letter to the Corinthian Church.  That is, the gospel, and all it purports to accomplish for us and the world, hinges on the bodily resurrection of Jesus the Messiah from the grave.  Put another way, that Christ was raised signals the validity of all he said and did, and the victory both now and forever of his way over every other way.  His resurrection confirms his kingship over the Jews but also over the gentiles.  His resurrection sets the world on notice that at “the end of the day,” but also all throughout the day, it is Christ’s way that leads to victory and categorically not the way of Caesar.

But do these affirmations really flesh out in everyday life and, if so, how?  I ask does it flesh out because for many it seems not to flesh out in any meaningful way.  The death and resurrection of Jesus is about getting to heaven, about escaping this life safely to the next.  Resurrection power, therefore, assures us that death does not have final say for us or our believing friends. 

No follower of Christ could fail to say, “Hallelujah” to this!  Yet it is possible, and common, to posit such faith as if that is all there is, as if resurrection reality does not flesh-out at all, as if the gospel turns out to be basically an exit strategy.  To such a notion, Paul would say, “God forbid!” 

(Paul’s celebrated treatment of the resurrection in 1 Cor. 15 aimed precisely at debunking the Gnostic notion that salvation was all about escaping bodily life in a material—and therefore evil—world.  How ironic that often those most exercised about proving the bodily resurrection of Christ at the same time hold a view of salvation that has more in common with the Gnostic world-view against which Paul’s defense of the resurrection is aimed!)

For Paul the gospel is the announcement of God’s victory over the powers that have thwarted God’s creative and redemptive purposes, and an invitation to participate in that victory—not only at the end of the day, but all throughout the New Day that dawned with the life-death-resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.

In Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome, chapter 8, the Apostle elaborates how God’s victory, demonstrated and confirmed in the resurrection of Jesus, fleshes out in the life of those whose mortal bodies are “made alive” through the indwelling Spirit, the very Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead (8:11).

First, Paul tells us there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, (v.1).  Wonderfully, we believers experience no condemnation now, nor do we dread condemnation at the end of the day.  Why is that?  It is because Christ Jesus has liberated the believer (set me free, v. 2); because in Christ Jesus God has condemned sin in our weak human flesh (v. 3) so that the life envisioned by the law would come to fullness in us who live by the Spirit (v. 4).

(Of course, I am having some fun with this term “flesh.”  It has a variety of meanings—among them it denotes literally the flesh of our human bodies, or figuratively the flesh as our (un)natural (that is, not as God intended in creation) human condition when weakened, vulnerable, powerless under the sway of sin, or also figuratively the flesh as the primary instrument sin uses to highjack humanity for the evil-one’s purposes.  When asking how the resurrection “fleshes-out” I want to insist that resurrection power covers the full range of meanings—that resurrection power engages us in all the ways we experience life in the here and now.)

In other words, in the flesh God’s Spirit works by/with resurrection power to set us free from the tyranny of sin and for the fullness of a life that pleases the Life-Giver.   Paul goes on to “flesh-out” this life in greater detail: former sinful tendencies, dictated by a mind set on “the flesh” are replaced by Spirit-tendencies (a mind set on the Spirit) that lead to shalom—“life and peace.”   Since we are no longer enthralled by the flesh but indwelt by the Spirit, we are able to please God, and we do (vv. 5-9).  Wherever we are or have been weak, God’s Spirit strengthens us, makes us alive, with resurrection power.  Indeed, “if your body is dead because of sin, your spirit is alive because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who lives in you” (vv. 10-11). 

Don’t miss what Paul implies here.  We anticipate our own future bodily resurrection—in chapter six Paul describes this as “walking in newness of life—with confidence because already the Spirit (who is our foretaste and down payment of final redemption, see 8:23) makes us alive so that we please God, here and now, by living a Spirit-filled and Spirit directed life.

This is, in fact, a Christ-like life.  We are filled with the same Spirit who raised him.  This is the Spirit of adoption, who now inspires/authorizes us to call God, “Abba.”  We are his children, as He was his Son.  We share his kind of life—participating in his sufferings and in his glory.  Resurrection power forms us to be like Christ, and to live like Christ in our still fallen, as yet unredeemed world.

Second, as we live the Christ-life in such a world we are a sign (that is, a reflection of what is to come and of God’s way for getting there) of the coming, full redemption of the world.  The world is a place of groaning, of painful brokenness, of submission to corrupting and disintegrating powers that, if unchecked, would undo creation.  The world groans and we groan with it and for it. 

This is the world Jesus entered, for which he suffered and died and overcame.  Now on the strength of His powerful presence within us, which gives us hope (v. 23), we find ourselves in the world in the flesh made strong by resurrection power. As Jesus overcame by deep trusting reliance on His Father, so do we.  The Spirit who raised Jesus indwells us, and helps us in our continuing weaknesses.   This same Spirit who makes our mortal bodies alive by resurrection power also makes our feeble prayers, our inarticulate groanings, alive with intercessory power as we pray for those circumstances and persons caught and all but swallowed by the forces resisting final redemption.

That Spirit assures us.  We know Paul says.  Loving God and embracing his plan lead us inevitably to good (consider what “loving God” implies as response to his self-sacrificing love in Jesus for us and as a gift that inundates us by the Spirit’s indwelling).   Just as surely as God answered the cross (the worst evil and defeat) with resurrection, so his plan now calls for nothing short of a humanity in full conformity to the image of his son, with all the glory and responsibility that this entails. 

How does resurrection power flesh out?  In bold and hopeful participation in a broken and groaning world for which there are no easy answers; in firm and confident reliance on the Spirit for weathering the weakness of our world and our lives; in intercessory prayer in situations of deep distress; in following the lead of the Spirit who shows us how to respond; and in faithfulness to his way—the life of love as the path to good and glory.

Third, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead demonstrates above all the triumph of God’s love.  Made alive by the indwelling Spirit that raised Christ, we dare to trust the love of God in giving ourselves in love for the sake of the world.  We may be confident that nothing can separate us from this love, nothing can overcome this love, and nothing needed to live by such love will be denied us.

The Risen Christ who gave it all for us intercedes for us and though we may be like sheep led to slaughter we have grace, hope and assurance even in the hour of sacrifice. 

No rival king—not even Caesar—and no rival power—not even the evil one himself—can stand before our Lord Jesus Christ crucified, risen, and reigning.  And no other way—self-sacrificing love energized by the Spirit with resurrection power—can lead to his victory.

K.I.S.S. FOR JESUS

When it comes to being church for the world, I’m off on a K.I.S.S. for Jesus campaign.  That is, “Keep It Simple Silly (or the harsher version, “Stupid”) for Jesus ….

In all of the gospels the gist of things is quite simple, though not necessarily easy and definitely challenging.  In each of the first three gospels we have an episode where Jesus asserts or affirms that LOVE is central to everything (check out Matt. 22:34-40; Mk. 12:28-34; Lk. 10:25-29).  More precisely a two directional or two dimension love stands at the center—love for God with our whole being and love for neighbor as for self.  All of the texts underscore the priority of such love—more important than all the sacrifices we might offer, that on which all the law and prophets hang, and essential for the life of the age-to-come.  Keep It Simple Silly—it’s about all-encompassing love for God and extravagant love for neighbor.

Jesus did not innovate by identifying this simple core theology and life style.  Even his opponents could make the connection between vertical and horizontal expressions of love and name its priority.  Yet, in Jesus the simple core undergoes a reconfiguration with seismic practical consequences.

• In Jesus, neighbor-love becomes the measure of God-love.  John would later spell it out—how can you say you love God, whom you cannot see, when you do not love your neighbor right in front of you? (see 1 Jn. 4:20-21) Jesus’ kingdom reorders everything.  First becomes last and last becomes first.  What seems secondary suddenly turns primary.  Clearly God ranks above any and all mortals.  Undoubtedly God comes first.  Even so, there is no loving God apart from loving neighbor.  And the degree of our actual love for God registers most profoundly on the reach of our love toward the neighbor.
• In Jesus, love for neighbor expands in radically inclusive ways.  Not just those who are near, whether by blood or geography, but also those who are far—crossing boundaries of family, clan, community, and nation.  Likewise, not just to the known and familiar, but to the unknown and strange.  And not just to the friend, but even to the enemy.  In fact, “neighbor” could be anyone.  In fact, Jesus revises the key question.  “Who is my neighbor?” becomes “Who acts neighborly?”  Here again the

  kingdom

  of

  Jesus

  reorders things—first becomes last.  Thus, the degree to which we love neighbor (thus reflecting love for God) in reflected most accurately in the reach of love toward those farthest away, toward the enemy.
• In Jesus, we have a picture of what this looks like.  No one would question His love for God.  Yet, strangely (or not) the most powerful and vivid enactments of love are toward other people (rather than God).  He stoops at the feet of the 12, including the betrayer, and loves their feet clean.  He scans the crowd scorning him as he hangs on the cross and prays, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”
• In Jesus, this love—simple, pure, and primary, can come to a fullness of expression that mirrors none other than God’s own love.  Jesus said, “They will know you’re mine by how you love one another.”  He called them to follow him on his love-journey.  “As I have loved you, you must love one another.”  It’s the love that moved Stephen to pray for his murderers in the very way Jesus did.  It’s the love that Paul celebrates—that more than conquers and that, in the end, will prevail.

So, K.I.S.S. for Jesus.  Keep it simply silly.  Let’s seek and show them!

RENEWING ASPIRATIONS

As a new year begins here are five aspirations that have the potential to bring renewal to any who holds them.

1.     We respond to God’s passionate love for us, drawing us into the divine intimacy, and making us new people, marked, shaped, aflame with his love. Thus in loving response we would champion our theological heritage—to be a holy people, free from the tyranny and damage of sinful self-addiction and free for loving God with our all and loving neighbor as self.

2.     Our focus is therefore to be on Christ at the center.  Our aim is to draw near, as near as humanly possible, aided by grace.  Our journey is movement toward the center.  Our passion is to be so near that concern for the boundaries recedes—what matters is where Christ is, how we and others are oriented toward him, and whether we and others are moving toward him.  On the journey, with gaze fixed on him and while moving toward him, God makes us all he wants us to be, individually and corporately.

3.     What and whom God loves we love.  What and whom God pursues we pursue.  For what and for whom God cares we care.  Therefore, our concern and compassion will be global, but particularly activated toward the “poor,” and toward places where the poor live.  When we care for those whose condition and circumstances in the world offer us no advantage, we reflect the love of God most authentically and powerfully.  And the world sees God at work.

4.     We stand in awe to realize that God invites us into the middle of what he is doing.  Jesus calls us to follow him and learn his ways.  The Spirit empowers us for this journey.  On the way, we share in what he is doing, and carry on his works in his name.  We discern his method and embrace it in relation to others.  Therefore, we look for those about us, within reach, whom God has drawn near and prepared, and we invite them to come along with us, as we continue the journey.  We identify those whom God will raise up after us.  We invest in them.  We pour out our time and energy on their behalf.  Together we anticipate a holy synergy—that God will do more with these little investments than merely add them up, that a miracle of multiplication will occur, sparking a divine fission that releases mighty untapped kingdom power.

5.     We confess our utter inability for the awesome ventures of a truly kingdom journey.  And we humbly seek and submit to the Spirit’s filling and on going fullness in our lives.  We are holy only as the Holy One indwells, and only to the degree that he has his way without qualification.  We repent of anything that blocks his access to the deep places in our lives.  And we yield ourselves and relationships, as deep reservoirs and freely flowing channels of grace and love.

On the Missing at Christmas

Yesterday was the first Christmas in 33 years that Lavone and I were alone.  It was mostly good.  That is, we didn't mind being with one another exclusively.  In fact, we enjoyed not being on the spot, not having any expectations to match (or try), not having to do anything or go any where.  It was a Sabbath experience of sorts.

Yet, we had moments, especially toward the end of the day.  We had enjoyed being together, exchanging gifts of love which we hoped reminded us of the greatest GIFT.  But the celebration wasn't complete.  The kids who belong in any true family celebration weren't there.  The missing diminished our joy.

I've recalled the many who have no one, for whom every celebration is a reminder of something or someone missing.  We miss our children and larger family only temporarily (they arrive later today and this week) and this provides us with comfort others never know.  How thankful I am.  How my heart goes out to those who have no one.  How good it would be if someone would include them, and if their inclusion relieved a painful void created by awareness of the missing.

Then, again, my sense of diminished joy reflects an important dimension of God's great gift to us.  In fact, God misses those who by creative and redemptive intent belong around his table.  My puny and partial sense of deprivation over missing people is dwarfed by this hugely felt void in God's household.

What wouldn't we do for the opportunity to include all of our kids at the table? 

What wouldn't God do?

Lessons from the Mother of our Lord

During Advent 2007 I’ve been reflecting on the opening of Luke’s gospel, especially the narratives recounting Mary’s role in the gift of Messiah.  Here are the bottom line realities that nourish and challenge my Christmas faith, which you can read about in the reflections below.

• Mary was surprised to be shown such incredible favor and then continually surprised at how the grace of God worked through her and the Messiah.  So, Lord, help me never to get over the wonder of amazing grace, never to yawn at your including me, never to think that I’ve got you and your way figured out, nailed down, inoculated against surprised.
• Mary was drawn in, enthralled by the wonder of it all, eager to engage in this drama that seemed to be gathering her up and taking her where she did not know.  So, Lord, keep me alert to how your grace makes its inroads in my life and relationships.  Keep me asking for deeper understanding, and taking you at your word when your explanations only raise other questions.
• Mary was willing to be in the flow of these God-happenings, though she could never have guessed all it would entail.  So, Lord, with Mary I want to say, whatever you say, whatever—let it be!

How surprised Mary was!  One day—I imagine it to be morning, but maybe it was at night, just before sleeping—an angel appears.  I resist the temptation to mythologize the story by assuming that angel-appearances were to be expected, since this is the Bible.  No, Mary had never seen an angel, and wasn’t sure about the protocol when she did.  She was surprised, as all of us would be.  But Mary’s surprise turned to wonder and then modest discomfort, humility born of a deep internal reality check.  The angel told her she had been “graced,” highly favored, and that the Lord was with her (1:25).  It perplexed and troubled Mary.  She didn’t know what to make of it.  Among the reasons, I think, was realistic awareness—she was no one special, would never have expected this, and now that it was happening to her she doesn’t know what it means.  In one way she was right, she was nobody special, according to all the canons used to measure “special.”  Yet, the grace of God was extended to her.  As the story that unfolds will make clear, it is especially to people like Mary, unsuspecting, undemanding, unworthy, that this unexpected gift, this grace comes.  Why her?  What now?  I doubt Mary ever got over the wonder and the surprise, the shock at finding and feeling grace reaching out and embracing her.

How intrigued and enthralled and engaged Mary became in what God’s grace proposed.  The angel tells her some of what this grace will mean—conception of a son—Jesus-Savior, her son, but also the Most High’s son, King with never-ending throne and reign.  Talk about mind-blowing.  Talk about impossible!  Revelation raises as many questions as it answers.  Mary wants to know how this could be.  She knows enough biology and has enough integrity to wonder if she really understands the message.  How?  This was a different kind of question than her uncle Zechariah had asked (see 1:18).  He wanted “proof,” a sign that would guarantee what he had been told.  She wanted understanding and insight.  She wanted to know more—how could such a thing happen to her, under the circumstances?

Revelation raises as many questions as it answers.  The angel tells her how.  The Holy Spirit will come, power from on high, and the result—what is begotten—will be … .  I doubt this helped much in the moment, except that it let Mary know that this would be entirely a God-thing.  How?  Well, ... God!  With God things that seem impossible have been known to happen.  With God even the inconceivable … .   She can check out Elizabeth.  And, she did.  She followed the path God opened to another place where grace had gone and the inconceivable was even then happening.

How willing Mary was.  “Let it be to me according to your word, O Lord.  Even when I would have said it’s impossible, even when your kind explanations are hard to fathom, I am in your hands, a servant, at your disposal.  Thy will be done on earth with me and through me, now and always!”

Amen!

JESUS IN HIGH DEFINITION--WHAT DO YOU SEE?

In seeking to go HD when it comes to Jesus, here are some things that impress me and draw me further to go and check him out.

First, Jesus was not in to himself.  He didn’t promote himself or strut his stuff.   He was not a loud-mouthed TV commercial type, and he didn’t drag others down to look good.

YET, if anyone had something to talk about he did.  He was some awesome person, capable of out of this world stuff (see Mt. 4:23-24).  He simply allowed his actions to speak for him.

Second, Jesus was approachable.  He was interested in people like you and me, willing to listen, understanding how it is with people.  The most troubled, confused, bound, burdened, burned out, the so-called or self-proclaimed failures and losers (in part or completely)—whoever was welcomed.  You could be yourself and not feel condemned by his responses or reactions.

YET, Jesus stood for something, believed in something, or SOMEONE.  He represented a different way of life, unlike other ways, and felt so strongly about this way, he was willing to die for it, and for others, even if they never followed him.

[In history there have been many who killed for what they believed, but few who gave their lives, sacrificing self for what they believed and in so doing seemed to allow others—like the religious and civil authorities, and the unseen powers—to ”win.”]

Third, Jesus welcomes people just as they are.  They could be themselves, but he was and is on the move. He’s going somewhere.  To be with him—just as you are—means you cannot remain as you are or where you are.  He invites us to walk with him, and to walk into a new way of being, of living, of experiencing our humanity.

YET, there is no coercion, no sense of external pressure compelling you to do what you don’t want to do.  You come, begin to walk, and find yourself wanting to know, see, feel, experience more.  It’s like a taste of something so good that you’ve got to have more, or like seeing something so beautiful that you simply must have another look, even if it’s not convenient or costs you to do so. 

Fourth, Jesus treats everyone the same, in that all are welcome.  No one is turned away, which forces all people to face the selfishness and pride within their own hearts.  You find yourself in the company of Jesus and it’s not just “Jesus and me,” but there are all these other folks who have also been welcomed, folks that are not like you at all, some of whom are so unlike you that you would never ever desire to be in their company, but there you are.   And, you must choose between being with Jesus along with all the other strange people he attracts, or hanging on to your people-prejudices and preferences and going it alone.

YET, Jesus treats everyone differently.  He treats each one just as each one needs and deep-down really wants (though this realization usually comes only later), so that each is valued, loved, challenged, corrected, and changed just the way they most needed and wanted (this realization also usually comes only later).  Jesus doesn’t jam anyone into another’s mold!

I am absolutely intrigued by Jesus in HD.  I do not know anyone else who is like this, who can compare.  I am drawn, pulled into the Jesus-way.  I think the world would be so much better if those of us who claim to know about Jesus could follow him in such HD!

JESUS IN HIGH DEFINITION

JESUS IN HIGH DEFINITION

Recently I had the privilege of speaking at a student ministries retreat.  Indeed, to students.  This was truly daunting, since I am no longer a youth and, some would no doubt argue, I am sometimes out of touch relative to North American Youth Culture.  So, I approached the assignment with fear and trembling.

After much prayer and thought I figured it would be good to focus not so much on my fuzzy perceptions of student-culture but on Jesus.  My theme was “Jesus in High Definition.”  I told them of my conviction that in many ways the church needs to “find Jesus” all over again!  Why did and do I say that?

First, it’s all about Jesus, who is the Christ or the messiah.  Most of us are not geniuses, but we can get this—Christianity without Christ is “ianity”   And “ianity” is nothing!  Without a firm and ever sharpening vision of Christ, there’s nothing left to get excited about.  If we get Jesus in HD—we’re going to be on the right track.

Second, it’s so import to get Jesus in HD because a lot of folks look at the church (full of people who claim to follow Jesus), a lot of them listen to the church, and a lot of them experience the church in a way that seems astonishingly different from the picture they have of Jesus in their head.

I know.  You’re thinking that such people often have a picture of Jesus that resembles a little kid’s stick drawing on some proud parents’ fridge.   Be that as it may, still that drawing is good enough so that most look at it and say, “Well, I think it’s Jesus!”

What I’m observing is that a lot of people look at the church and listen to what the church says, and the way it says what it says, and then say, “Is that Jesus?  Or “That’s not Jesus!” or “That’s not Jesus, is it?”

Some people today say, “I like what I can see of Jesus, I’d like to know more about him, but do I have to become a Christian and join the church to do it?”   

Some would even say, “I want to follow Jesus but I’m afraid if I join the church I’ll lose sight of Jesus, and it’ll make me an uptight, sad, critical, judgmental person.  So, I’m OK with Jesus but I’d just as soon avoid those born-agains!”

A little illustration: if you look carefully at the gospel story you find the best people hating him and the worst people loving or at least liking him.  The most religious folk want nothing to do with him, while the really bad people are eager to come close and see what he’s all about.

But today, in general, do the worst people you know, the really bad ones, often try church?  Of course not!  Do they even feel welcome or safe visiting churches?  Usually not!  How can that be?  If it’s all about Jesus, how come the church is so unlike Jesus at this point? How come the folk most eager in the NT to come to Jesus would rather die than come around a gathering of typical Jesus-followers?

In that respect, at least, the church needs to find Jesus all over again, to see Jesus in HD, and to experience Jesus as if in a Jesus-IMAX theatre.

Third, it’s so import that we get HD in seeing Jesus because, when you do you can’t believe how good, beautiful, attractive, magnetic this IC is.

When you see Jesus in HD (as clearly as any human can with God’s help) you are drawn, just like the first disciples who hear Jesus’ call (without a lot of advance preparation) and they get up and go for it, and they begin the adventure of a lifetime. 

Once upon a time, we all understood that it is all about Jesus and following Jesus in just that way.  So, I’m seeking these days to see Jesus with such clarity that original passion, reckless abandon, and all sorts of “foolish” following once again takes hold!