Musings of a "not so good" Christian

When Jesus came to establish God’s Kingdom on earth, it was meant to be radically different from any human kingdom. The Kingdom of God was meant to shatter the pride and arrogance of those that thought that they were better than anyone else. It was established to level the playing field between the socially acceptable, and the socially unacceptable, the haves and the have-nots. Jesus came to demolish the walls that separate between religion, gender, race, sexuality.

Jesus’ life was meant to show to the world the great love, compassion, and mercy of God.

Jesus’ sacrifice was meant to put into place a new way, in which all are accepted and loved by the Creator.

Jesus’ resurrection confirms that His mission was accomplished and He was King of this new way.

Yet over the millenniums the Church has rarely shown this depth radical love, and in fact, the American church has actually portrayed something else (another gospel, as it were) to the world around us.

So here is my wish for the church in the form of an open letter…

Dear Bride of Christ,

I have known you for a long time and in the beginning of our relationship my “new love” blinded me to the reality of who you really were. At first I embraced you and overlooked your affair with Uncle Sam. How on television, radio, and in print you, as the Bible says, “lifted your skirt” for politicians and political power. You sold your soul to push a morality onto people you yourself could not  achieve. Your pickets, protests, and boycotts have achieve nothing more than to pervert the purity of the Gospel of grace. I wish you would break off this sinful union.

As I have matured in our relationship I noticed something else. You want everything your way. And when you don’t get it you pout, rant and rave and call yourself a victim. You label people on the outside as sinners, wicked,vile, perverts and wonder why they don’t want anything to do with you. I wish you would stop judging and accept people where they are and learn to love with unconditional love, like Jesus and the Gospel of grace teaches.

And finally, don’t you realize that the people populating your house live in fear of you? Most in the family pretend to be better than they are, or something other than who they are. Why? They are terrified of being rejected by you. So they hide. They hide their fears, doubts, personalities, weaknesses, failures. They hide being able to be who God created them to be. They don’t want  a divorce so they act as if they have it all together. They will never question you and because of that you have complete sway over their lives, even when you are wrong and your message does not match the message of the Gospel. I wish you would learn what Grace means.

I am sorry that I have not brought these things up sooner,  but I was not strong enough. But having a better understanding of God’s endless grace has given me strength. I want to be a part of your life because I believe in the mission of the Gospel. This would mean you would have to step back and see the damage you have brought to the name of Jesus.

I am not sure that you are ready for that yet.

So I grieve our relationship.

Still hopeful,
Mark