ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
July 23, 2022
There are moments when I look at Christianity, and I find myself scratching my head. So much of what is put forth and given to the world as Christianity strangely resembles everything Jesus seemed to oppose. In fact, I am coming to believe that many prominent presentations of Christianity today have emerged from a bunch of very insecure men who have made an idol out of their own fragile egos. Their hyper-masculinity is embarrassing, yet they have found a way of marketing a misogynistic religion that has sort of become the standard form of Christianity. This probably sounds like a real downer for folks who were looking for a happy-go-lucky Etching today, yet I continue to believe in a radically different expression of Christ-like living. I use the word “radical” because it comes from the same root word that gives us the word “radish,” a root vegetable. Radical is not something far out, but what happens when one returns to the root of something? Jesus lived what the Apostle Paul would later describe as the Fruit of the Spirit, which included: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There are those who will try to tell you such attributes are not the future of Christianity because they represent a ‘whimpified’ Jesus, yet I find there is nothing further from the truth. It will be an unequivocal, animated and fervent expression of those attributes that will change the world. We need to return to the roots of the Jesus-life, a life lived in such a way that plainly bears the Fruit of the Spirit.
Continue to bring me back to Jesus, O Spirit of Christ. Continue to reintroduce me to the most basic qualities put forth by the humble and self-giving Jesus I find in the Gospels. Amen.
