I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.–Gandhi
Earlier in the week I wrote about an archbishop’s decision to withhold a sacramental rite from a politician got me to thinking again about some of the apparent contradictions between the prophetic church and the pathetic church.
In the early Christian church there was a movement away from the pathetic church toward a more authentic practice of the gospel. These hermits who lived in the deserts of Scete were called the Desert Fathers and Mothers. Monastics trace their roots to these people. I think we’re being called more and more to separate ourselves from churches who seem more intent on being apologists for doctrine than for those who genuinely follow what Jesus lived and taught. The Gospel of Jesus is about radical mercy and forgiveness. I don’t believe it’s about taking from the have nots and giving more to those who already have more than enough. I don’t believe it’s about condemning abortion and condoning war and capital punishment.
This very graphic video helps to illustrate the incredible distance between these two points of view.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZlxBTVxINM]
as one who has recently followed my conscience about not being involved in military actions for precisely this reason, i understand. i dont think it is following Christ’s example for us to be going to another country and killing, rather than dying for them. you see, Christ could have marched into Jerusalem with an army, but he did it on a donkey. quite a contrast.
peter