ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 24, 2026
In Sunday’s sermon, I referenced the book If God Is Love, Don’t Be a Jerk by John Pavlovitz. It is a wonderfully edgy book, and I appreciate John’s journey, which is about as crazy a journey as anyone might have. He was the youth pastor at a mega church in North Carolina before being fired as he was no longer asking the soft and acceptable questions that are required in most large churches. The book is very quotable, and in the 8th chapter, he writes, “When your God shrinks, your demons tend to multiply.” I believe he’s onto something. As some people find their God becoming smaller and smaller, the demons of fear and scarcity emerge, and those demons give rise to others that go by the names of hate, greed, and self-serving power. When your God becomes so small that 98% of your Christian arguments come from a narrow reading of the Old Testament—a reading desperately seeking a way of making your clear clash with the most basic teachings of Jesus appear palatable through lots of religious rhetoric—it might be time to pause and allow God, the One revealed in Jesus, to begin stretching the little box holding your well-formed idol.
God of gentleness and kindness, whose love passionately seeks out the lost and marginalized, we give thanks for Jesus and his teachings that are often discomforting and demanding. Today, we express gratitude for how your love does not demand perfection, while at the same time is annoyed when we reach too easily for excuses. Help us to grow in our perception of you, using both wisdom and expansive mercy as the lens. You are the One who continues to beckon us toward a deeper vision of the divine mystery, a vision that inspires joy for the journey of faith. Amen.
