"O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you,
but to do justice,
and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God."

Micah the Prophet

May you feel the gentle breeze of God's loving care on your face today.

ron

Last evening as June and I were driving to a wedding of a couple in their 70s, we saw this bumper sticker:

"I like your Christ.
I do not like your Christians.
They are so unlike your Christ."

How embarrassing is this?

All of us who say we are followers of Jesus should be asking ourselves - "Is this true of me?"

There is a famous story about Mahatma Gandhi, the founder of democratic India. As a young man Gandhi lived in South Africa. He met Christians there. He read the Bible. He read the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. As he read the teachings of Jesus, he met a Jesus who was loving and forgiving. He was introduced to a Jesus who said you should love your enemies. He was attracted to this Jesus! Then he met some people who said they also read the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. However, they told him that because he did not share their color of skin he couldn't come into their churches or their homes. He thought this was strange. So he decided that he couldn't be a follower of Jesus. Gandhi was a gracious man and I think he would have said, "I love you Christians. I love your Christ. I can even accept the teachings of your Christ. I just can't follow him in life and death." Gandhi was kept from becoming a follower of Jesus by those who called themselves "Christians' - which means "Christ-ones" - "ones like Christ."

So if we say we are followers of Jesus - how is it going? Is the bumper sticker true of you and me?

I meet many people who tell me they are confused by Christianity. They also tell me that the Jesus I talk about on this blog is not one whom they have ever met. These same people tell me that they did go to church at one time. They sat through sermons. They heard about Jesus at home growing up. For a few of them, they thought that God's last name was Damn. And when they heard about Jesus it was more in the manner of 'Oh, JESUS CHRIST, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU!!!!' For others, they heard one thing about Jesus at church (kind, meek, mild) and saw a different picture of him at home (raging, angry, screaming, prejudiced). No wonder they are confused. Still others heard there was a person named Jesus who cared about you, but they never seemed to find any people who said they followed this Jesus who really cared about them. These people met others who claimed to be friends of Jesus but they never felt befriended by these friends of Jesus.
First on behalf of all you who agree with this state of affairs - you, who feel betrayed, confused, rejected, hurt, misunderstood by those who claim to followers of Jesus, please accept my apology. I ask you to forgive us, the followers of Jesus, for being such poor models of his mercy, kindness and love. We have let you down. We have let our Jesus down. We have dishonored you. We have dishonored Jesus by our behavior. Please forgive us.
Please give us a chance to talk again about who Jesus of Nazareth really is. Some of us who follow Jesus really do want to honor you. You are made in the image of God. You deserve our respect. And you have mine. You have good reasons to question our faith, our pronouncements about our faith. Can we talk some more about what it really means to follow Jesus with our whole hearts, minds, souls and bodies?

I meet lots of people who say they know about God. Notice 'about' God. They may have read the Bible (although I am amazed how many people have not read the Bible as adults yet make sweeping comments about its contents). They have a knowledge of various theological and philosophical ideas about God. They may say things like 'God is love' or 'God is all powerful' or 'God will work things out'. They sometimes say they pray to the God of their understanding. But as I explore these people's concept of God they have a very limited experience of a relationship with God. (I don't believe in religion - it a man-made construct - but I do believe in a relationship with the divine.) They may even quote verses of the Bible. Their conversation is always 'about' God and 'about' their understanding of God. There is little or no conversation about intimacy with God.
It's like this: when you meet someone who is really in love with another person - does he or she talk about this person in abstract, disembodied, theoretical terms? Of course not! There are passionate words stumbling out and tripping over each other describing this new found love. This love is no head knowledge; this love is an experience of the heart . So it is with those who know God. Interestingly, the word in Hebrew (used in the Hebrew Scriptures) for 'know' is the same word used to describe sexual intimacy between a man and a woman. It is this kind of intimacy, this kind of 'one-fleshness' that God desires to have with us. It is the same kind of experience with God that each of us should desire. Following Jesus is about having this kind of intimacy with the Father. Jesus said that we are to be one with him as He is with the Father. I don't think that Jesus's teaching on this experience of oneness is about some kind of 'ontological' description of our relationship - it is about an experience of oneness so that when we talk to God we are know we are really having a private, heart-to-heart conversation (lovefest) with our Daddy. Have you ever had the experience where someone knew you knew you so well or someone knew you so well, you could finish each other's sentences? God wants you to know him so well you can finish his sentences! Followers of Jesus aren't stuck in their heads; they are head-over-heels in love with the Father.