I had to post this article

in case it disappears from the 'net. My apologies to the author. Some things said need to be preserved...

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COMMENTARY: Church shouldn’t be this hard

(RNS) After 36 years of serving churches as a pastor and consultant, I came to a startling conclusion the other day.

Not startling to you, perhaps. I might be the last person to get the memo. But the conclusion drew me up short.

My conclusion: Religion shouldn’t be this hard.

An assembly that exists to help people shouldn’t be so willing to hurt people — by declaring them worthless, unacceptable, undesirable or strangers at the gate.

An assembly that should relax into the serenity of God’s unconditional love shouldn’t be so filled with hatred and fear.

An assembly that should do what Jesus did shouldn’t be so inwardly focused, so determined to be right, so eager for comfort, so fearful of failing.

An assembly that follows an itinerant rabbi shouldn’t be chasing permanence, stability and property.

An assembly whose call is to oneness and to serving the least shouldn’t be perpetuating hierarchies of power and systems of preference.

Faith should be difficult, yes, because it inevitably entails self-sacrifice and renewal. Life, too, is difficult. Dealing with Mammon is difficult. Speaking truth to power is difficult. Confronting our own weakness and capacity for sin is difficult.

But the institution whose sole justifiable purpose is to help us deal with those difficulties shouldn’t be making matters worse.

When we bring our burdens to church, we shouldn’t find ourselves feeling intimidated by the in crowds, caught up in conflicts about who is running things, budget anxieties, jousting over opinion or doctrine, or relentless demonizing of whoever is trying to lead.

Yes, I understand that church is a human institution and therefore it will participate in humanity’s brokenness. But church should be seeking to redeem that humanity, to heal that brokenness, to show better ways to live. Instead, we celebrate our own cruelty and bigotry. We fight against the very transformation that God seeks.

Maybe I’m the last one to see this dilemma. The millions who are fleeing institutional Christianity in America aren’t escaping bad doctrine, shoddy performance values or inconvenient calls to mission. They are escaping the institution itself.

It doesn’t have to be this way. God certainly doesn’t want it this way.

I think, for example, of the performance anxiety that infects most churches. We needn’t worry so much about pleasing constituents on Sunday. Worship isn’t a Broadway show; it’s a glimpse of God, not a celebration of style, excellence and self.

I think of our leadership conflicts. Pastors aren’t CEOs hired to maximize shareholder returns. They aren’t impresarios rewarded for putting on great shows. Pastors are flawed creatures called to help other flawed creatures bring their neediness to God.

Church should be a safe place — safe to be oneself, safe to make one’s confession, safe to love whoever one feels called to love, safe to imagine more, safe to fail. Instead, church often is a dangerous place, where people feel guarded, self-protective, hemmed in by tradition and expectation, required to obey rules.

Church should be different from society. Instead, it plays by the same rules: get mine, be first, be right, punish the weak, exclude the different, reward the wealthy.

Our society needs healthy faith communities. But neither society nor God has much need for religious institutions grounded in right-opinion, self-serving and systemic danger.


(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus” and founder of the Church Wellness Project. His website is www.morningwalkmedia.com. Follow Tom on Twitter @tomehrich.)

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God does has a sense of humour. We, however, do not.

I'm sorry that I had to sharpen up the image. If I hadn't the text would have been too blurry to read.

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Ah, my...

The Second Coming Christ Controversy

"David Jang has become an increasingly influential figure in Asian and now American evangelicalism. He and his followers have founded media outlets and a Christian college and are key influencers in the World Evangelical Alliance. But many say he leads a group that has encouraged the belief that he’s the ‘Second Coming Christ.’ Is there any truth to the allegations?"

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I'm not surprised

Most Americans say media coverage
of religion too sensationalized

From the 'Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics'. Somehow I find a study of 'Applied Politics' unsettling itself...

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All of this

weird, culty-type stuff always has sex as a component...

Trial issue: Sex 'counseling' of Ohio Amish wives

...even among old-time groups. From sex 'counseling' to beard cutting is an unusual leap...

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Not just what you believe...

A Conversation with Robert Bellah

...but what you do...

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Not the right graphic

but I haven't got a good one for Vietnam. Where are all the good ones of the right size of Ho Chi Minh when you want them?

Vietnamese authorities replace chapel items with images of Ho Chi Minh

As long as humans are involved this whole Communism thing won't work any better than Capitalism does. One day you're praying in front of a Cross in your nice Lutheran church and the next day, poof!, a photo of Stephen Harper.

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Another

great beginning image for the article. This time photographic work.

Dusting Off GOD

"A new science of religion says God has gotten a bad rap."

Hmmmmm... I guess the study of religion can be considered as much a science as psychology or other 'social sciences'...

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Nice!

Rocking Russian grannies to build church with prize winnings

It's a truly wonderful use for the prize money, but I'm still trying to picture six grandmothers in 'red smocks, headscarves and woolly boots' singing disco. A mental image I never thought I'd be trying to picture...

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Become a success

You, too, can become a successful writer in a niche market!

Vatican reprimand sends American nun’s book up bestseller lists

Just get the Vatican to condemn your book and you're off to the races!

Seriously, some years ago a condemnation or a warning would prevent sincere Catholics from even considering reading a book. Now the Church believes people are more mature and responsible for their faith so it leaves the faithful alone to make up their own minds, but gives them a warning.

Alas, I think that most people still need to be led by the Church, and given more counsel than they get.

"All we like sheep..."

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Occupying ourselves

No Revolution Without Religion: Why the Occupy movement needs to Occupy faith.

I don't think I posted this article yet...

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How to win friends

and influence people...

Rastas are abnormal, says university administrator

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What you don't know,

or what you thing you know but are wrong about, may suprise you.

Amish 101: What You Probably Don't Know About the Amish

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An instance

in which a group is making a major issue out of something that isn't a major issue, and making accusations about things that have already been adequately answered.

This article:

Group calls for exorcism inquiry after Saskatoon incident

followed this one:

Sprinkling Holy Water Not Exorcism, Bishop Says

You'll recognize the group if you see them. They're the ones standing there with their fingers in their ears shrieking loudly "Medieval abuse! Stuck in the middle ages! Science uber alles! These people are luddites! The Catholic Church is evil! There is no God!" and renting bus signs saying the same thing.

You know, the new athiests...

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He is Risen!




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What is most sad

is that this fight throws the whole message that he was preaching into serious question. (Not as to whether or not it is Christian, because that was always in question.)

Rev. Schuller: My financial future is at risk

Rev. Schuller's message doesn't seem to be working out in his own life, and now he has had to take legal action and create division in order to get what he believes is his from his ministry.

Possibility gospel and prosperity gospel followers should take a lesson from this, but likely won't...

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Even though

these things can't be explained, I can believe in them.

St. George's Orthodox Church myrrh-seeping icons attract hundreds of believers

The very core of the idea of 'miracle' is the inexplicable nature. Along with it is not just the 'how', but also the 'why'. God doesn't work the way we do. Alas, there have been too many fakers over the years to take things on faith automatically without using a bit of reason.

Still, people are looking for something to pin their hopes on, and faith, also by its nature, very often overrides reason...

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So, if this is a way

to try to get him back in the good graces of his followers, it certainly didn't help him with the rest of the world.

http://www.indeonline.com/life/religion/x458334926/Jewish-leaders-offended-by-Ga-preacher-s-ceremony

What an incredibly thoughtless thing to do...

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More of the same...

...the enshrining of everything as a religion to supposedly protect it from the government and the law.

Sweden recognises new file-sharing religion Kopimism


(The cartoon is a little dated, but it's by the great comic book artist Will Eisner, and it fits perfectly despite its age...)

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Blogging the Pope

Calumny and Lies (I Tell You!)

A Combermere, Ontario, Madonna House priest discusses the writings of Pope Benedict XVI.

I know one thing, Pope Benedict XVI is a wonderfully articulate, clear and understandable writer who can hold a reader tightly in subjects that, from most writers, would be dry and, possibly, bore one to tears. He is a marvelous writer who has a clear idea of who his audience is - academic, religious, theologian, student, or lay person - and writes so well that his words grasp you from start to finish...

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