Musings

I am a thinker. I guess I always have been, but for whatever reason there have been times I have gone through seasons of complacency and worse yet conformity, accepting others impressions and opinions without contemplating, questioning and at times disagreeing.

I suppose it has been in large part due to hang ups about not feeling good enough. We all make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes and regrets can really trap us and haunt us. What an incredible waste, especially for people of faith who are told by Jesus that in him they will find freedom.

Then why is there so often anything but within church? I suppose it is back to pursuing sinners or persecuting saints. For purposes of my rambling musings, sinners would be those separated from God, living captive to some degree of shame, blame or condemnation, and saints would be the church folks who project a perfect understanding that places them head and shoulders above the rest, peering down their noses at those honest enough to question, think, disagree or invite others into difficult, yet life giving and stretching conversations.

I am not a saint, I falter, make mistakes and try not to consider myself better than anyone else. But I fail there often as well. But I would rather fail at that then pretend to have it all together and project a set of rules and regulations that place God in a box and dull people to thinking and sharing. It is the role of the saints that kept me away from church for such a long time.

Thankfully I still met Jesus and it is all about relationship with Him, not with the saints.

I love to think about things and explore them from a variety of angles, not satisfied to be spoon fed information without looking at it, tasting it, and often picking it apart with my fork. And accepting the delicious nourishment Jesus has for me.

Yet we are all a melting pot, lovers of Jesus, saints and sinners. And may I remind us all that every saint is also a sinner, in this case one who is separated from God. None of us are perfect, even though many of us try to project our perfect faces. Sorry, I can't do that.

I recently read the following statements and felt affirmed and in agreement and relieved that there are actually some within the church having these conversations and making these statements:

• Who you are is more important than what you do.
• The church is not an organization, its' an organism-the body of Christ.
• Stereotypes never carry more than 25% of the truth.
• The cup God grants is always half full.
• No one has a corner on the truth. But we had better have a corner of it.
• Getting to know people always changes or o pinion of them.
• Our default strategy is passive-aggressive.
• When we avoid conflict, it usually gets worse.
• leaders lead by making mistakes.
• Leaders ask for forgiveness, not permission.
• Jesus said, "Love your enemies," not, "Don't have enemies."
• We can always learn more about about "agreeing and disagreeing in love."
• Vision for the Christian is seeing things like God sees them.
• It's not about us."

What do you think of those statements? I embrace them!

Who penned them? James Schrag the immediate past executive director of Mennonite Church USA. I believe these statements are worth thinking about; he has, and has been transparent enough to articulate them. I like that and I respect that.

Jesus welcomed thought. Good grief, he had to, or why would he have used so many parables? So let's think, discuss and as James Shrag says, "We can always learn more about 'agreeing and disagreeing in love'" it is the conversation that is important.

Shalom.