But what Dawkins does is totally different.

You see, the problem he has is that he operates on a set of assumptions that are fundamentally wrong. The principle one of these is that somehow religion and religious worldviews are somehow in a different category from so-called ‘non-religious’ worldviews. There is an assumption that what he believes is somehow in a different category from faith, because its based on science or something more proven or more accepted by mainstream culture, when in fact his own worldview itself is not 100% proven and involves a level of faith.

And when actually the Christian faith for example is just as much a worldview as his own.

In this documentary for example he criticises faith-based schools for ‘imposing ideas on children’. In one example however there are muslims attending ‘Christian’ schools, and in fact are still muslims. He is genuinely shocked by this, but fails to see this as evidence that his ideas are flawed.

He also just assumes the theory of evolution is right, and that its perfectly fine to tell people as fact that its true, and gives the impression that anyone who tries to convince someone of a different view of the history of the world and how we got here is forcing a false idea of them.

He seems to think its okay to indocterinate people to believe his own worldview, because he beleives it’s scientific fact and therefore applicable to different views.

But to try and educate people in a different worldview – while still educating them about scientific views of the world like evolution – is somehow imposing ideas on people. If he had his way, he’d have all children being educated in the theory of evolution as fact, and religions as something seperate, something that’s not proven.

 The reality is that his own worldview is just that – a worldview, and it should be subject to the same questions and criticisms as other worldviews like the Christian worldview. His own worldview he might think is based on fact – but evolution isn’t 100% proven fact at all, and requires some level of faith just the same as a belief in any other worldview.

I think his view of the Bible is that it’s not really factually based so can’t be believable, and there is no proper evidence to support the Christian worldview.

Which is of course a total lie.

The gospel and the book of Acts for example, are a historical record of events written not long after they happened by some people who were involved in them, and if not, based on accurate testimony of those who were there. When historical events were handed down verbally at that time it wasn’t like Chinese Whispers where things get changed and altered over time – there was a strong emphasis on keeping the story the same, as that’s how events were handed down.

Paul speaks about 500 people who testified and were still alive who had seen the risen Christ – he tells believers in his letters to go and speak to them to hear about the story – and to be honest if they were all trying to create a fictional relgion having someone raise from the dead and the first witness to be a woman - whose testimony wasn’t valid at the time in a court of law or in culture – really wasn’t the way to do it.

And I don’t think it would have lasted 2000 years.

The point I am making is that there is historical and factual evidence for the Jesus worldview, and that’s of course not including the testimony of the many people whose lives have been transformed by faith, and people who have been healed from disease.

Of course, the Christian faith can’t be 100% proven, it involves a level of faith. But so does Dawkins’ worldview, despite having a lot of evidence to back it up.

Dawkins, for someone who is clearly intelligent, comes across as very naive and ignorant. He worries about parents imposing their views on their children, but doesn’t seem to mind when trying to make sure his own children are attending a school which supports his worldview of how he wants his children to be educated. There’s a Catholic priest he talks to about this who almost straight out says Dawkins trying to force his opinions on others – and there is a valid argument that he is.

He comes across more and more as someone who seems to be double-minded when it comes to religion and faith, and blind to the fact that his own worldview is equally valid as those who follow one of the world religions and in a very arrogant narrow-minded way seems to think his worldview is exempt from this.

Now let me make this clear. The church is not perfect.

The church is divided, hypocritical and has been guilty of all sorts of awful things.

It has been narrow minded and arrogant, and stil can be.

But religion and the church can distract us from the real message and teaching of Jesus – grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, justice. Religion is a massive problem and Jesus didn’t like religous people, and the church so should not be restricted or bound up with religion that they forget the heart of the message.

 Above all though, Dawkins worldview should be subject to the same criticisms and questions, and he either fails to see this, or just chooses to ignore it.

 I have no personal gripe with Dawkins, he’s perfectly entitled to his views and free to express them. I truly hope one day he discovers what I believe to be the reality of Jesus, and that science and faith, rather than being opposites, can help explain and compliment each other, as many scientists who are Christians beleive. As a Chrisitan I am called to love him as a brother, and pray for him. Don’t miscontrude my valid criticisms for a personal attack, as I’m not interested in that and its not the way I want to live.

But if he continues in the way he is, then I will not and cannot respect him.

To me, he seems as intent on imposing his own worldview on people in exactly the same way that he accuses ‘religous people’ of doing, and thinks that because his worldview is ‘scientifically proven’ then its fact, and isn’t subject to the same rules as ‘religions’.

Until he realises this, and sees the foolishness and arrogance of this view – even if he remains an aethist after seeing this – then I won’t respect him at all, and there’s no point debating what he says.

Ultimately, to me we are all part of God’s big story throughout history. The Bible is a collection of books telling God’s story through history and which tells us about what He’s done and how He wants us to live. God’s story is still being told and the invitation of Jesus through the cross is to become part of God’s plan to restore the world to how He originally intended it. Science helps us explain the how of God’s world, but God wants us to know the why first, and that can only be done in relationship with God. Science can help us understand a dimension of God, can help us understand how best to use the created world and explain how it all fits together.

But its just one dimension of a God who is bigger than any of our wildest concepts of Him, and more powerful and awesome than we will ever know this side of death. A God who can’t be explained by science, because He made science.

My hope and prayer is that one day Richard Dawkins discovers this God for himself.

Regular readers may have noticed I have not posted anything for a while now, and the reasons for that are something I felt I should share. The title may lead you to think this had something to do with politics – but I have an unwritten rule to rarely if ever discuss politics here. No, ‘the choice’ of the title is something totally different.

This all began with something God had been doing with me, and I felt it right to share with you. The reality is that God has been challenging me about why I write this blog. This quickly led on to the question of why I write at all.

What is the purpose of me creating and writing this material?

Do I do it for myself?
Do I do it for affirmation from others?
Do I do it because I’m trying to prove something to someone?
Do I do it because I feel if I don’t then I people will forget about me as a writer and I will have no future in writing?

Even more so, the even bigger question became the following question:

Does my identity lie in my writing, in what I produce, or does it lie in Jesus and His pure and simple love for me as I am?

If I never wrote anything again, would I still feel valuable and important?

Because the truth is,

I am valuable and important to God,

with
or without

any works.

Any writing.
Any creating.
Any involvement in church.

That’s not to say those things aren’t important, that I shouldn’t be doing them and that God doesn’t want me to do them. I and all of us have a responsibility to use our gifts in a way which blesses God and His people, whatever that looks like. Everyone is called to serve God and be obedient to whatever he calls them to.

But my identity should not be coming through my creativity and my blog, my identity should not lie in what I do.

And it’s the same for all of us

Our identity is in Christ and His love for us. That we are loved, valued and accepted just for being us, not for anything we’ve done. That’s the scandal of grace. In a world where all approval and acceptance comes from achievement, a culture which values you on what you achieve or how much you have, this is the scandal Jesus confronts us with.

Its not easy to accept , it doesn’t feel natural to accept it, because we are so ingrained in a competitive culture disconnected from God that we can’t understand love for love’s sake. The disconnection we have from God makes it uncomfortable for us.

So this is what God has been speaking to me about.

I have been reading ‘The War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield (a must for anyone who writes or creates in my opinion) and one thing that stood out is this idea of being professional with your writing/creativity. This idea that when you’re an amateur you give up easily, you are overly emotionally invested in something and can get more easily overwhelmed by it all, and its easier to give up because its only a hobby, something on the side.

Treating something as work means you turn up and do it even if you don’t feel like it. You give your all to it even at sacrifice to time and energy. You persevere through difficulty, and you accept it may not be perfect. You don’t worry about what people say about it, you are more interested in being faithful to what you’ve been given and producing something you deem to be of good quality, and actually getting it out there.

The act of creating something and doing it well is more important than just getting it in the public domain in order to please someone.

For a while I’ve felt God was calling me to be more serious about my creativity, speaking/teaching and writing. Reading ‘The War of Art’ gave me that focus.

I need to be proffessional with my writing, speaking and creativity.

My motivation needs to come from the fact that God has gifted and called me to do this and that I need to work hard at and be faithful to what God has given me. To persevere with it and work hard at it, no matter what my emotions are telling me or worrying about making sure people see it or even like or agree with it. To only share things when they are ready, and if they are to bless others rather than validate me.

I realize there is a certain irony in me writing and publishing this, however I am only doing so as I feel this is something God wants me to share, primarily to challenge and inspire others through telling a part of my own story.

We all need to examine our motivations for what we do.
We all need to examine what we put our value and worth in.
We all need to examine where our identity lies.

So ask yourself honestly:

Why do you do the things you do?
Why do you serve where you serve?
Are you looking to impress or prove something to someone?
Where, in whom or through what does your identity and value come from?

They are tough questions to ask and answer honestly, I don’t disguise that.

Yet its only through honestly answering these questions are we really going to grow.

They are questions I am still exploring and trying to find the answers to in my own life. Only through doing that can I discover and accept my true value, and in so doing deepen my relationship with God, know Him better, and ultimately serve Him in the way I’ve been designed to.

I do believe that God wants me to continue writing and creating, and continue with this blog. But only when I have something to share, not because I have to share something. Like now, I have something I feel God wants me to share, and so I am sharing it with you. For a long time I wrote because I felt I have to, out of fear and because I wanted approval. Now I write because I have something to say, and it won’t all end up here and even if it does, I’m not setting myself a deadline where I feel I have to get it onto the site. Its about getting it right, doing it well, being professional and being faithful and obedient to what God gives me to say and what He wants me to do.

That’s the choice we have.

We can choose to worry about pleasing others and trying to fit around their agenda, and acting and living out of fear. Or we can choose to please and serve God, and be faithful and obedient to what He calls us to.

We can choose to gain our value from people or achievements, or we can choose to see our value where it truly lies, in God’s unconditional love for us, which cannot be earned.

Are you willing to go on that journey in your own life?
If you already are, then what is God saying to you now and how will you respond?

Ultimately, its our choice.
My choice.
Your choice.

What’s it to be?

As most of you know – and if you don’t, just read the rest of my blogs – I’m passionate about church, I’m passionate about Jesus. I’m passionate about exploring what it means to follow Jesus and what it means to do church and be church, and discussing, theorising and engaging with these issues. That passion and enthusiasnm is real and authentic. I enjoy books about all of these subjects by many different authors and theologians and have learnt a lot from them.

But a systematic theology, an organized structure, almost mathematical theory for faith, like an equation, well I’m not so sure. Systematic theology sounds so limited, so restrictive, so religious and inflexible and sounds like something that Jesus stood against, something the Pharisees would produce.

Can I say that? Is that okay?

Is it okay for someone genuinely interested in discussing Jesus and understanding what church is and means, someone who wants to understand what it means to follow Jesus in our culture and someone who wants to explore and understand the Bible more deeply, to not have to use some systematic, scientific formula?

Jesus can’t be squashed into some system which is easy to understand and comprehend. He can’t be fitted into a formula.

He’s bigger than that. He’s more powerful than that. His teaching, His way of living, His plan for us and values He stands for are bigger than anything we can comprehend. There has to be an element of mystery to God, otherwise He’s not God.

God has to be mysterious, otherwise He’s just a watered down version of God, a comfortable version we can box up and understand and be comfortable with, who never gets us out of our comfort zone and rarely does anything unexpected.

Its not that the ideas and theories theologians come in are bad, or unimporant. Its not that they aren’t correct in their conclusions in many ways. Their contribution is significant, important and shows us more about one dimension to God. Systematic theology has its place and can help us understand God.

But basing faith in Jesus around systematic theology? Evangelism through systematic theology? No thanks.

For me , I prefer the see and talk about the Christian faith as a journey and a narrative. A story which has been going on since the beginning and is described in scripture, and is still going on now. An evolutionary and revolutionary story lived indivually but yet in community, the story of a relationship between God and His creation which we are all invited to be a part of. A story that’s part of my story just as I am, as a follower of Jesus, now part of God’s story.

People can talk about theories and ideas all they like, but its often stories that you find people remember.

Stories of how God has transformed someone’s life, or how He’s healed someone or done something people thought impossible. That’s why testimonies are so powerful, because they are true. They are stories about how God has really worked practically in someone’s life.

The Bible is a mircocosm of God’s story and our story in relationship with Him, a story of our rejection and disconnection from God, the world’s disconnection and His attempts at restoring all things, the centre of which is Jesus on the cross. It tells us who God is and how God wants us to live, how He’s acted throughout history.

Its a story of rejection, disconnection, suffering and pain, and God’s restoration, salvation, healing and ultimately resurrection in Jesus.

That same story is still going on, and the invitation to follow Jesus is an invitation to join in that story, and to become part of a community who have joined their life to that story, and have made God’s story their story.

Systematic theology can be useful, it can be important and can be helpful for learning about God, understanding Him better and deepening our relationship with Him. An academic view and study of God can help us see God in different ways and explore new ideas and concepts about God, and these are all important in their own way./

They all have value and significance.

But if you can explain God completely and base a faith on a systematic, scientific way of thinking, you are not experiencing God fully. You are not leaving room for mystery, and you are missing the relational side to God.

Jesus wasn’t just about theorising, or fitting faith into a system. He knew His stuff in terms of scripture and about God – in a way no one else did – but He spoke about it and discussed it in a way everyone could understand, and invited everyone to join in with this life and story. His way was an invitation to join a story, to join your life to something new, bigger and greater than anything else ever seen. It was an invitation to enter into relationship.

Remember that it was a fisherman, not a theologian or academic, that God chose to give one of the most important sermons ever – and I think there’s a reason for that.

God can do anything with anyone.
God doesn’t require us to have a qualification to serve Him.

Peter was no theologian, but he had a story to tell. He has experienced God in Jesus, and had been transformed by God. His words carried authority because of his story and his experience of transformation by God.

Okay, lets just take a little step sideways for a moment.I’m going to tell you a bit about my story with God.

As a teenager, I was bullied at school. And I mean bullied. Not physically but mentally. I was made to feel useless, worthless and unimportant. People betrayed my trust, they threw things of mine around, hid things, made fun of my faith. I had a few friends, but no one I could really trust or talk to. Even at church I was outside all the social groups, and an outsider. I thought I didn’t matter, and was worth nothing.

I got home from this suffering, only to find my parents fighting, my Dad suffering from stress and taking it out on me, my mum ill and depressed and escaping to alcohol, and me usually stuck in the middle of violent arguments between them.

I was totally alone. The only esacpe I had was to pray in my bed. God was the only person I could trust or who cared.

A few years later my parents had divorced – and had dealt with their own problems – and I had moved on. But then my mum died. I had nothing. No energy or strength or hope. Again, the only person I could talk to was God.

It took me years to face up to how it affected me. Bitterness, anger and rage began to overtake me and control me as I ignored my pain and grief. I got to rock bottom with an act of rage which hurt someone physically. It was the lowest point of my life, and opened my eyes to how much I needed healing and restoration. And as I opened my eyes to my issues, God was there waiting to help me. I got counselling, I got prayer, joined a good church and home group, did discipleship and got ministry and healing. I began to escape my past, find my true identity and was healed and restored, released and transformed. Serving in church ,writing, speaking, moving house, losing weight, growing in confidence, wisdom and maturity. Learning and understanding more about Jesus and church, and embracing and embarking on a new story, a new future, which has only just begun.

Its a story of pain, disconnection and suffering, followed by healing, restoration, forgiveness and resurrection. I went to my lowest point and God came to save me, restore me and bring me back to Himself.

Sound familiar?

Don’t those themes and that sequence mirror a little of the story of God and His people in the Bible I described earlier?

That’s because our stories all echo the Biblical narrative in one way or another. Because the Bible is a narrative, a story, a metaphor for all of us. Its a true story, and it keeps on becoming true again and again as we live out our stories.

We all have pain and suffering, we are all disconnected from God in one way or another, and the door is open for all of us to have healing, restoration, forgiveness and resurrection, and new life – if we choose to. The story of the Bible is all of our stories, and one important part of a bigger story of God which is still being told now, and which we are all invited to be part of.

A variant of that story is happening to each of us, and God wants to be part of it and for us to deal with in and through Him and in community with others who can serve and bless us and be part of that process.

That’s church.

That’s following Jesus.

That’s the gospel

And while academics and theologians have their place and are important contributors to that story, and to how we live this out practically in our everyday, Jesus doesn’t need us to be theologians and doesn’t want us to try and fit our faith into a systematic theology, or any kind of theology.

He just wants us to be part of His story, to join our story to His.

This week has seen a lot of anger and vitriol extended towards Nick Griffin, the leader of the BNP. He has been attacked from all sides for his opinions and those of his party, especially on Question Time last night. For my part, I totally disagree with his comments, his opinions and think that he’s been exposed for who he is and what he really stands for, and the sheer ignorance of his opinions. I think this is a good thing as well.

In my own life this week I’ve been the subject of comments which have totally misrepresented me, and have made me pretty angry to be quite honest. Its been very hard to be positive about the source of these comments, and at times I’ve wanted to make personal attacks.

But here’s the thing.

Jesus calls us to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us.

I think most of the country probably dislike Nick Griffin and all he stands for. It is very easy, no matter how neutral you try to stay, to not get emotionally involved in discussions like that and its not a long distance to getting personal with it, and taking your natural, god-given dislike of those political views he has and moving it into anger, resentment and personal attacks. Its a natural human reaction in one sense.

In terms of my experience, I felt misrepresented and taken advantage of, very mild forms of persecution. It would have been easy for me to react angrily and with bitterness and resentment.

But in both, the easy option isn’t really the best one.

Let me get this straight. Forgiveness isn’t easy. Its not simple. Its not something you can do suddenly, just saying someone is forgiven or telling them you forgive them, just like that.

Forgiveness is a choice.
Its a decision you make.

A decision to let go of your right to revenge. Let go of your right to get angry. Let go of your right to a comeback. Let go of your desire to make up for what has happened.

A decision, instead, to serve.
A decision to not hold any bitterness, but to treat them with respect. With dignity.

It doesn’t mean what they said or did was right, or that you agree with them, or that they won’t or shouldn’t face the consequences of their actions if there are any. It doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be justice.

It means you take down the barrier they have put up. The thing that divides you. The pain they have caused you – whether deliberate or not.

Forgiveness is disarming.

When people act a certain way, or do something hurtful – in particular when its deliberate or intended – they are usually shocked when the person on the end of it comes forward and forgives them.

Some people like Nick Griffin probably like the underdog role. He probably revels in the idea that the majority are against him, and dislike him. He feeds of it, he expects it.

What he wouldn’t expect is someone to come along and say that while they disagree with him completely, they are willing to listen to him and try and understand why he thinks that way. To listen to his story, of how he came to think the way he did.

It’s probably never happened, and probably never will.

Nick Griffin and his party believe things that, in my opinion, are just wrong.

Period.

They totally contradict one of the basic moral principles of any decent society, and despite his claims are completely contrary to the world view of Jesus, and the claims of the Bible.I could not disagree more with the man and his party, and his slick attempts to disguise this and lie about it say a lot about the character of the man, on top of his opinions.

But the thing is, God loves Him. Jesus died for Him. And God didn’t tell us just to love those we agree with or who are morally right. He tells us to love our enemies – those we or society don’t like, prefer to ignore and steer clear of and shut out of our lives. God calls us to love them.

He doesn’t call us to like them, or agree with them. But to love them. To see them as God sees them and treat them as such.

Its not easy. Forgiveness, and grace, are choices. They are processes. We don’t always get them right.

We have God with us to help us. He has grace to understand us in our weakness as well. We will screw up sometimes, and that’s okay. God understands.

But God wants our hearts to be for Him. He wants our hearts in the right place. Our intentions, our goals, our hunger and thirst to be to become more like Him.

More gracious towards those that mistreat us.
More loving toward our enemies.
To learn how to forgive.

If we’re doing those things, we’re on the right track. And God is always there, on our side, ready to get us through the screw ups, and to encourage us in the successes.

That’s the journey of our lives. Our journey toward God.

I was off work sick today, resting and trying to find something to do, and ended up chatting with someone on Facebook. It was in response to a blog post on my pastor’s own blog on this difference between breaking the rules because that’s what it means to follow Jesus, and breaking rules for the sake of being rebellious, even as a Christian. It’s a pretty good post (worth a read, epsecially for those interested in theology), and I wrote an initial response to it. Then a man called Andrew Bindon, who believes slightly differently to me, responded to this. Then I responded to Him.

It ended up being a discussion which allowed me to ask myself questions about what I believe and why, and have intelligent conversation and healthy debate with someone who believes very differently. I think in the end there was mutual respect between us, rather than the bitterness, judgement and division which often gets attributed to discussions on Christianity, especially between Christians and non-Christians.

I learnt more about Jesus, about myself and what I believed and made a new friend, even if we believe totally different things.

Below is the transcript of our conversation over the day. He has published exactly the same on his blog. We both felt that it was a conversation and discussion which many more would benefit from seeing and I’d love to hear your responses. Here it is…

James Prescott (me): What we have to remember is we are not called either to be rebels or to be conformists. We are called to follow Jesus, whatever the implications of that. If we appear non-conformist or conformist, or rebels, as a result of this then so be it. But ultimately its finding the real Jesus and being obedient to Him and His calls on our lives which really matters. I am currently reading ‘The Orthodox Heretic’ at the moment and finding it quite interesting, and have just bought ‘How Not to Speak of God’, which I am looking forward to even more now. Interesting post.

Andrew Bindon: The example of Jesus’s life was not to be a follower of anyone… he wasn’t.

JP: Jesus showed us that the best way to live was the way He lived – the way of God. He was obedient to God and lived the way God always wanted us to live, and made it possible for us to live that life.

AB: The same way that Mohamed was not a follower of Mohamed, and Moses was not a follower of Moses, Jesus was not a follower of Jesus. The example these great spiritual leaders set was to live lives of radical spiritual leadership. They engaged in their relationship with the eternal to such a degree that their engagement became a blessing to all of us.

JP: Jesus wasn’t a follower of Jesus, of course not. But He was the Son Of God, and was at once 100% man and 100% God – as complex as that sounds (and its probably even more complex to explain and understand). He showed us in His life how God wants us to live as human beings, and made it possible for us to live that life. Jesus engaged with God in a way none of us could, and through His sacrifice allowed us all to engage with God in that way. Whether we do and how much we do this is ultimately our choice.

AB: What I’m suggesting is that Jesus engaged with God in a way that all of us could. If we could not then all our spiritual endeavours would be futile. That we do engage with God in that way is the direction where the hope of humanity for a better world lies. If we are to learn from his example, we should not be a follower of anyone, we should especially not be a follower of Jesus – that would be to exactly miss the point of his life and turn his ministry into a false idol.

JP: Jesus asked his disciples to follow Him, and in Gesthemene he prayed for all his followers, and all who ‘would believe in me through their message’. Jesus engaged fully with God because while he was 100% human he was also 100% God. He showed us that this type of life is possible, and that God wants to be fully engaged in our lives, in the everyday. The point of Jesus life was to show us how God wants to live and that following the way of God, and God’s original intention for humanity, as embodied by Jesus, is the best way to live, and furthermore to open us up to a full relationship with Him through His death and resurrection. Jesus showed us that we could fully engage with God and made it possible. Jesus wants us to follow Him in as much as He wants us to engage with God in the way He did, and be obedient to God as He was. Jesus was obedient to and submitted to God’s plan. Jesus and his ministry is no false idol though, Jesus is the Son of God.

JP: Jesus had a special anointing and gifting from God, and was the Son of God, both at once fully man – in terms of temptations, expereiences and emotions – but also fully God – totally without sin. He was tempted how we are all tempted, but didn’t give into temptation once. Because of that He was able to make the sacrifice for the rest of us, which not only made a relationship with God fully available, but also set in motion the restoration of all things in heaven and earth, so that heaven and earth are once again the same place. Jesus showed us a ‘new humanity’, which in reality is the ‘original humanity’ God always intended for us.

AB: I think there is a misunderstanding around the idea Jesus “wants us to follow him”. Wittgenstein pointed out how once you have climbed the ladder of understanding you must throw the ladder away. The ladder is not the point. The ladder only gets you to where you are going, like a signpost that points you the way. Otherwise life becomes about the signpost, rather than the direction it is pointing in. It is a mistake to think that life is about Jesus, in the same way that it is a mistake to think that a signpost pointing towards London is itself London.

JP: You’re talking about Jesus as just some minor prophet from 2000 years ago, when I don’t believe that. I believe He was different to any man before or since, fully God while at the same time sharing all the expereinces and temptations we have. Jesus wants us to live the life God always intended for us, and He showed us how to do this on a very basic level and also made it fully possible through the cross. I call myself a follower of Jesus, because I try to live my life around the values and lifestyle he stood for, and by His teachings about God and life. Obviously I am not him and never will be. But Jesus embodied an atttiude, a way of life, a way of living and seeing the world and other people, and a basic set of principles, and He asks us all to follow those and make those part of our everyday. In that sense He does want us to be His followers. Jesus makes sense of our lives, and points us in a direction different that maybe we would want or expect, of course He does. He helps us see our true identity and is a guide, freind and teacher along the road to discovering our true selves and the role God wants for us in the world, and ultimately in discovering the reality of God in our everyday lives, and making it more of a reality.

AB: Thank you very much for our conversation today James, I have enjoyed discussing this with you. (In between trying to get some work done!) Clearly we don’t agree about some things, but I think that on the whole we agree about more than we disagree.

JP: It has been an interesting conversation to be sure.

AB: Hooray, everybody is happy! Those are the kinds endings I like.

Hope you enjoyed the conversation, and learnt a lot. As a Christian the questions Andrew poses are challenging for us all and ones we should all hear and think about our responses to. If you’re not a Christian but thinking about Jesus, I hope my responses answered some basic questions, and weren’t too full of jargon for you! We are all exploring our relationship with God. Life is a journey and we are all at different places in that journey, and we are all on a journey with God, even if we don’t know it. God wants to be involved in all of our lives, and He doesn’t want to be some distant person away from anything, only called on in emergencies. He wants to be part of our everyday – or rather, He wants us to see Him the everyday He’s already involved in.

He’s just waiting for us to respond to His invitaton. He sent Jesus to open the door to have relationship and restore the world to how it was originally made to be. Jesus has made that way of life available to us all, and doesn’t want us to be part a religion, but a way of life. The way of life intended for us from the beginning, the way of God. Through this we discover our true identity, and can play a part with Him in restoring this world to how it was always intended to be.

Andrew said following Jesus wasn’t important, but I believe it is the only hope for us. The only genuine hope there is for humanity. Jesus offers that hope, and its not fake,

its real.

Have you ever wondered about what it would be like to take a break from the world for an entire day?

There is this Jewish idea of a Sabbath, which comes originally from God Himself, who blessed the ‘Sabbath day’ and made it a special, Holy day. But this is more than just not working on Sundays or going to church on Sundays – after all, many people now work on Sundays, and pastors and ministers all work on Sundays.

No, the idea of ‘a Sabbath’ is something far more. It is a rest. It is not doing the things you do the rest of the time. It is saying something is done for that day, even when it isn’t done. Its taking a break from the things that keep you busy, whatever they are, and doing something else.

Resting.
Praying.
Going out and having fun.
Listening to music.
Going for a walk.
Sleeping & resting.
Reading.

Whatever feeds your soul, whatever will give you peace and rest and disconnect you from the busyness of life, even for just one day. It may be that you need to cut off from TV for a day, or turn your phone off, or turn your computer off, or not do any shopping, or not play on your games machine or watch DVD’s or listen to your i-pod.

It could be any one of these things, a combination, or none of them. But the idea of the Sabbath is to take a break from the things that keep you most busy, and recharge and refocus, and rest.

As a follower of Jesus, I believe God asks us to make days like this regularly. In the consumer 24-7 culture we live in its so difficult to do this nowadays.

The idea of suggesting that for one day you don’t turn your phone on – apart from a major emergency – and you don’t answer your e-mails or go on Facebook, Twitter or anything but let them wait, and focus on resting and recharging yourself, and on your own relationship with the creator, is becoming more and more scandalous – even in church circles.

Have you ever asked someone what they would do without their phone for a day? I remember when I lost my phone before, it felt like my world had ended.

When actually, we could probably survive without our mobile phones for a day if we really tried. We survived without them for thousands of years, i think we can do without them for one day.

If we can’t, then I think we need to look at ourselves.

There is a well known pastor who has a day in the week where they can’t be contacted electronically, where they don’t work and spend time with their family, friends or just doing things which they don’t normally do, and taking a break from the rest of their lives. They stick to it as a discipline, and it often helps them reconnect with God.

I think our world could benefit so much from simply having a day of rest.

We need to realize we weren’t meant to be 24-7 creatures. Even God took a break, and we were made in His image. We need a day to unwind, to take a load off, to rest, to enjoy the life we have and God gives this to us not just as an option, but as a command.

We may not be able to do it every week, such is the way we live now. But I believe its something we need to practice more regularly.

In fact, I have decided I’m going to try and fit in a Sabbath once a month if I can, and after I do it for the first time, I will write my experiences and response here.

The question I want to ask is, what rules your life? What keeps you busy? What gadget, habit, interest or luxury can’t you get through your day without? What takes up most of your time?

God wants us to rest.
We were designed to need rest.
God wants to reconnect with Him again.
He wants to take a load off and recharge, and give some space for Him to speak into our lives afresh.

Then we can really make the most of the other things in our lives, and put them in their proper perspective.

And we might get some rest too.

Regular readers will remember I wrote recently about a ‘Genesis 1′ view of the Bible, the cross, the church and the world and how this impacts our lives. I also wrote recently about the problems and issues I have with ‘labels’ in church and Christianity full stop.

Today I want to link the two, and expand on it a little.

A Genesis 1 view of the world – where life and faith is about restoring things to how God originally made them to be, including us through the forgiveness of sins, and the cross is about more than just sin but restoring everything and bringing heaven back to earth – is, I would suggest, a view of the world which encourages creativity, and where there is no room for a Christian subculture. In art, music, and all ‘creative’ areas of the world, as indeed in life, it is not only preferable to not label one thing ‘Christian’ and another ‘non-Christian’ it is actually totally foreign to the way of life Jesus talks about and which is shown the original creation.

We’ve all heard of Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Michaelangelo and Picasso, and most people generally accept they were great artists and we look in wonder at their paintings, all of which are highly valued. Many of us will have heard of ‘Banksy’, the graffitti artist – and I think one of the great artists of our time.

Now how many of these were or are Christians? To be honest I don’t know, but I’d say the majority weren’t, and Banksy certainly doesn’t appear to be.

But does that make their art any less valid or meaningful? Does it mean we can’t expereince God when we look at their paintings?

In the same way, virtually everyone loves at least one of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, U2, Michael Jackson or Prince. They are all recognised as great bands or musicians. Indeed I have seen Prince and U2 in concert – and I’ve written about how it was an intensly spiritual experience where I tangibly met with God. But I was also listening to ‘Purple Rain’ the other day, in particular the guitar solo, and was lost in wonder at how good it was, and again was just in awe at what some of us can do with a guitar, and again expereinced God in a way different from how I had done before.

Now U2 are known to be Christians, but Prince isn’t. The Beatles and Stones weren’t and its hard to say if Michael Jackson was. But again, does it mean we can’t encounter God and hear from him through it? Is it really that much different from ‘Christian’ music. I met with God, it comes from a creative spark given to that person by God, therefore it can belong to God.

That’s not the only issue. There’s also the fact that the label ‘Christian’ is given to something and often used as an excuse for inferior quality material.

Why should it be?

Why should we excuse or allow for lesser quality just because there is a label ‘Christian’ on it. All it does is relegate stuff produced by Christians for Christians onto some second division level, and the good ‘Christian’ stuff is degraded because of its label.

Of course there are some anti-Christian pieces of creativity – books, music, technology and art – around where it would be hard to find God and to experience God, or which go against the values of God.

But lets get rid of this Christian sub-culture which only increases and encourages a difference and separation between the sacred and the common, between what belongs to God and what doesn’t.

This is God’s world and it always has been and always will be. God can be found nearly anywhere and in anything, if you look for Him.

There is a saying “What you look for, you will find”. If you want to be cynical, optimistic, or angry, there is plenty to give you that opportunity. It’s the same with creativity and the arts.

If you look for God, you will find Him.

Remember, the creative impulse inside us all belongs to God, the ultimate creative genius.

Next time you appreciate a great piece of art – a brilliant piece of music, a great film or book, and you learn something from it, you experience something good from it, you wonder at its quality and meaning -recgonize where that creative gift and impulse comes from, and wonder at the creative gift of God.

And remember that something doesn’t have to be labelled ‘Christian’ for you to experience God.

I just saw an advert on TV by famous British illusionist Darren Brown, who confidently announced that he was going to correctly predict the lottery numbers.

I suspect millions were tuning to watch him do this, either in wonderment at how he pulled it off, or out of cynicism at the behind the scenes tricks he or the tv company pulled to do it.

But why are so many people excited by this?

Probably because if they could, they would pick out the right lottery numbers, win millions of pounds and then would be able to retire and live an easy life without responsibility and with all the luxuries and benefits of wealth, they would have achieved the consumer dream without having to do any work to achieve it.

Honestly when I saw that advert for the Darren Brown programme, I wasn’t cynical, or even apathetic. I honestly felt pity for him and for those who watched in fascination at his trick. Not the cynics, but those who are so interested in how he pulls off these little tricks he pulls (and lets face it, they aren’t that interesting).

All around me I see a world obsessed with money, successes, survival of the fittest, consumerism and which is full of cynicism, violence, injustice and oppression.

But it seems we like to sweep these things under the carpet, pretend they don’t happen.

It’s understandable. I do it sometimes, more often than I would like.

Its easier to brush these things under the carpet and ignore them. Its often how we deal with pain and suffering, or problems we can’t solve, or when we realize what we would have to give up to solve these problems.

I do it. You’ve probably done it.

But one other problem I think people have is that they don’t think there’s any hope. No one believes in anything genuinely good anymore, because no one trusts it.

They don’t see any solutions to the problem. They don’t believe we are capable of really changing the world, or that this world can be better, and that any promises of hope are bound to end up as false.

If its too good to be true, then it probably is, goes the phrase. A lot of people believe that.

Most things are. Many people have given up even on the Christian faith because the actions of a few who have made mistakes and because of bad decisions by individuals and churches in the West. They can’t even turn to the church for hope, even they and their promises are too good to be true.

Okay then, forget church for a while. Forget Christians.

Look at Jesus and look to begin with, lets look at the first two chapters of Genesis.

They may only be a metaphor, but they speak of a world where humans, animals, the earth and God are all in perfect harmony.

Peace.
Justice.
No pain.
No death.
No disease.
No night.
No suffering.
No bitterness.
Love.
Joy.

Heaven and earth in one place.

Then look at Jesus. The life He lived.

Jesus wasn’t a hypocrite.

He wasn’t too good to be true. He didn’t turn out to be a fraud. He never contradicted Himself. He wasn’t a hypocrite. He didn’t lie. He didn’t abandon anyone. He forgave the ones that killed Him.

He kept His promises.

Its His message that genuine followers of His try to live out. We shouldn’t be bothered with religion, or legalism, or a set of rules, or telling people how bad they are.

That’s not the way of Jesus. If you ever hear someone saying that to you, trying to ‘sell’ Christianity by telling you how bad you are and how much you need Jesus, its not a Christian message.

The message of Jesus is that He made you, He loves you, He died for you and has an identity and destiny made for you at the beginning of time, and has a key role for you to play in the remaking of the world back in the way it was originally intended to be.

Jesus will eventually come back to finish the job, to finish the restoration of all things, and heaven will join with earth again, thanks to the cross.

The rejection of God we have all played a part in will be forgiven, if we accept our role in it (after all, none of us are perfect) and accept the forgiveness that is already ours through Jesus. Creation will be re-made back to the original template of its designer, nature will be in harmony – Jesus even said the lion will lie down with the lamb.

He spoke of a restoration of all things, and He meant literally all things. Paul spoke later in the Bible of His death being the key which allowed all things to be reconciled – reunited – with God. For all things to be restored as they were at the beginning.

We have split heaven and earth, we have brought all the pain, death, darkness and suffering into the world. We took something that was really good – and really was true – and made it bad.

But now through Jesus it can all be remade again, and it will do.

No tricks.
No lies.
No hidden agenda.

Christians and the church may not be perfect and may be hypocrites at times, but the reality -the truth – of it is that the way of God that Jesus spoke about is real, and isn’t too good to be true.

The world will eventually be restored back to how God originally intended, a world of peace, love, justice, with no pain, no death, no night, no evil. Total peace and harmony.

Sounds cheesy doesn’t it?

Too good to be true maybe?

Its not. Fact.

Jesus is not. Fact.

Jesus equals no tricks.
No lies.
No hypocrisy.

Jesus isn’t a fake. He’s the reality.

His followers and His church may not be the best reflection of Him all the time, but Jesus Himself and what He said and did never changes, and can’t be ignored.

He isn’t too good to be true. He is true.

Before I really get going with this blog, I want to acknowledge the contribution of Rob Bell to this piece. This article was inspired by a sermon of his ‘Christ in the Common’ (currently available to download free on itunes on the Mars Hill Bible Church podcast, or at www.marshill.org

That sermon, much as many of Rob Bell’s talks and books, gave clarity to an idea that has been growing in my mind for a while, and which I hinted at in my recent post, ‘Christianese? Keep it to church’.This is an idea or concept that when you hear it makes so much sense, and gives you insight to many experiences you’ve had in your life that you’ve never had. I must warn you, this is probably one of the longest posts I’ve written and there’s a few Bible verses in here.

But trust me, bear with me and it will be worth it.

Many times I have said Christianity isn’t a religion.

Following Jesus, orientating your life around His values, His teaching and His example is not a religion, but a way of life. This idea gives that concept even more credence.

In the Old Testament scriptures it was decreed that reilgious life and common or ‘normal’ life, everyday things, were totally different. The temple was the place where God resided, in the normal, common, mundane things of life He wasn’t as present. And the priests had more access, special access to Him. Life was about rules, regulation, the law. This concept lasted up to Jesus’ day and was in practice during His lifetime. The idea was that you used certain language, acted a certain way and adopted a different mentality when in the temple or some other Holy place. These places and the practices carried out there were sacred, spritual, unique and separate from everything else.

The common, ordinary everyday things were not sacred, were not spiritual. The curtain in the temple represented this idea of seperation.

Now, those of you who go to church or have been to church regularly, does that sort of thing sound familiar? Acting a certain way in a Holy place? Using certain language in a Holy place? Only carrying out certain practices in a Holy place? A Holy place somehow being more spiritual or the presence of God somehow more present? Almost like a club, a special place for God, and everywhere else seems different – and is even procalimed as a separate place by some in leadership?

Be honest. I think you know exactly what I mean.

I think when I was younger I used to treat my church like a club I went to, like some society I was part of. A separate entity in itself, totally separate from the rest of the world, where different rules apply and where everything is done differently, according to a different set of rules. Not only that, but to really be a member you had to fit to these rules. Many churches are like that.

I have visited churches where you aren’t welcome unless you agree with their theology and standpoints on certain issues, or if where you get excluded if you have a certain type of background or do something which doesn’t fit the model of a Christian.You may not get chucked out of the church, but you are made to feel second rate or uncomfortable. There are several types of things which some churches raise eyebrows at. Say you go out with or marry a non-Christian. Or maybe if you’ve suffered from some kind of medical problem in your past, or in some cases if you have a criminal background or history of alcoholism, or if you’re divorced. In some cases, if you believe in women in leadership, although that is slightly more extreme.

I have seen or heard examples of all of these things at various points in my life, sometimes involving good friends. I’ve even been told I shouldn’t be hanging out with or speaking to ‘this type of person’ or a specifc person, because they don’t fit with the type of person they want in their church. Now if someone is being inapproriate, or disrespectful or treating people badly or is causing trouble in the church and offending or hurting people, that is totally different.

Asking people to leave for those kind of reasons is understandable. That’s not what I’m talking about here. Its just the fact that some churches are ‘if you don’t fit our rules or ideas of what a Christian should be, then you don’t belong here’

Do we really think that’s what Jesus wanted?

Is that the kind of people and the kind of community Jesus advocated?

If you aren’t a follower of Jesus, is that the kind of community you’d want to be a part of?

No on all counts. Its not a community I’d like to be a part of either.

And there is hope. Because Jesus advocates something totally different, and much better. Nothing like the religious tradition, full of division, legalism and rules that we have now. Not something that increases the divide between the sacred and the outside world and seems more and more full of religion and tradition.

Oh no. Jesus advocates something radically different, and far more exciting.

Now lets just go back to this idea of seperating the sacred and the common. I think what I have  described above is exactly that, isn’t it? Its what our society tends to do.

Another phrase for this would be ‘religion’.

In our culture religion is separate from our ‘normal’ lives, churches (or any religious meeting place) are Holy places where everyone behaves a certain way. Even non-Christians when they visit have a certain reverence and respect. For example, telling people not to swear in church – as if God isn’t anywhere else and its okay to swear outside because He won’t ‘hear’ you. Even Christians do that sometimes when visiting big churches on tours (trust me). Force of habit in some ways.

Religions are separate from ‘normal life’ and places of worship are separate from ‘normal life’.  The curtain is well and truly up, seperating God and sacred things from the outside world. Religion is private, separate from everything else. Including, unfortunately, Christianity, which is so religious its untrue.

So lets see what Jesus says to all.

Well first we only have to look at His ministry. Does He stay in only the religious, sacred places with the religious people? Does He preach only in places of worship – in Israel’s case, the synagouges?

No.

He preaches and teaches largely on hillsides,fields, by the river, in boats, by a well, at parties, to ordinary people in their ordinary everyday lives. He did preach in synagouges too, but not the majority of the time. He performs the first communion in a persons home, without liturgy or ceremony.

Now check out this, from Luke 6 v 1-4 where Jesus’ standpoint becomes pretty clear:

“One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath [Jewish day of rest]?”

Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what [King]David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”"

Jesus is saying a lot here.

He is removing the distinction between the sacred and the common, and saying the common can be the sacred, and sacred can be the common. They are one and the same. David ate what only the sacred people were meant to eat, because he was hungry, and gave some to his companions. David and his companions were hungry, exactly as the disciples were.

So the sacred becomes the ordinary, and vice versa. David brought what was sacred out into the open, to the ordinary.

Jesus is breaking down the barriers of legalism, of seperation between sacred and common, the rule that says that God must be restricted to the temples and that things must always be different in there from everywhere else.

Here’s another example of this, from Matthew 26 v6-12:

“While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper [which says a lot about what Jesus wants of us in itself], a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial”"

Washing your feet was a mundane everyday, common thing, not sacred at all. The disciples wanted to take the perfume to the temple and sell it – in a religious, sacred place – but Jesus told them very clearly that what she had done was a sacred act.

Again, bringing the sacred into the ordinary, and making the ordinary sacred.

Nearly done with the Bible passages now. Jesus just keeps on coming with this idea, see Matthew 25 v 35-40:

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.The righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King [Jesus, speaking in third person] will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

This is crucial.

Jesus is saying here that whenever you serve someone least in our world – poor, homeless, needy – or a criminal, a drunk or someone we don’t like, our enemies – we have actually been serving Him.

We have, in serving someone at the bottom of the tree, actually been performing the sacred act of serving Jesus -the highest of high, the one called the ‘Great High Priest’.

The sacred again becomes the ordinary, and the ordinary the sacred.

There is no division. None

There is one other point which I think is crucial here, and I have alluded to it already.

The temple curtain.

This was a very important symbol of seperation between the sacred and the common, keeping God and the sacred within the temple, certainly metaphorically and symbolically speaking. It was very thick and difficult to tear, made of strong high quality material.

Only the very righteous, holy people, the priests, were allowed to go beyond it into the presence of God, and even then not very often.

What happens to the temple curtain when Jesus dies? It tears apart.

Now how much more symbolic and obvious can you get?

The barrier, the dividing line, the symbol of separation between God, the sacred and the common, the ordinary and the unclean is torn down…forever.

Its pretty clear what Jesus is saying here, and it all this has significant implications for how we do church, and for how we preach and teach.

You see, Jesus is clearly implying in all these passages that He doesn’t want us to become internalized, exclusive, or like some members only club. He doesn’t want us to act Christian or talk Christian only when we are at church. He doesn’t want us to use a different language when we’re in church -though of course some terminology is unavoidable.

He is making clear He doesn’t want church to be something which is inaccessible to those who haven’t been before or don’t know much about church, or to become a little ‘in club’ where only people who go regularly get it, and which bears no relation to our lives outside of it.

This is huge.

Teaching and preaching takes on a whole new dimension. It cannot be any longer about keeping people in. It should never have been. Or keeping people out for that matter.

No, preaching and teaching needs to be a method by which people are trained, equipped, and empowered to live out the truths of Jesus in a very practical way in the world we live in. To interpret the Bible and communicate it relevantly, and to show what it means practically in the world and culture we live in. To send people out more equipped to live as followers of Jesus in this world. Not just to talk about Jesus, but to enable people to live out their faith more relevantly in their everyday lives, to put the teaching into context for the world we live in, to give us understanding to take with us into the world.

The role of church is to have a community where people can learn these things in a safe context, but one where they can be challenged and encouraged to find their true identity.

A place where people can share their struggles and experiences of living like Jesus in the world with others in the same situation, and to get support and accountability.

A place where people who know nothing about Jesus can go and understand exactly what we’re talking about, and understand fully what Jesus is about, and where all are welcome as they are, to discover the way of Jesus.

Come as you are culture needs to be the norm, not the exception.

Yes, we keep traditions like communion – this is symbolic and reminds us of what Jesus has done, challenges us, convicts us and inspires us. It helps us to take Jesus seriously – and we’ve been commanded to do it by Jesus Himself. We celebrate Easter, Christmas, and Pentecost. We keep the church calendar, to keep us orientated around a different story.

But there have to be serious questions asked.

What is the role of litergy in this? It sounds traditional, it sounds religious and often it only serves to confuse unbelievers with its language, to separate us from the world and to make us more religious, more legalistic and stuck in the realms of tradition. It is in danger of becoming something ‘for church’ only and which doesn’t connect us at all with reality.

I’m not calling for an end to liturgy – it can help people connect with God, very clearly, and can be very powerful and moving – but in the light of this the questions need to be asked.

Why do we keep liturgies, and what can we do with them to make them more accessible? Are they just a religious tradition, are they necessary for us to connect with God and do they help us to live out our faith practically in the world we live in? Or do they make us more religious, more distant from the world we live in, and make us irrelivant? And if people do experience God through them, then how can we use them yet not alienate people or make people feel like they are stuck in a religion from the past or that is irrelivant to their lives now?

One thing is very clear though. As clear as day.

Jesus doesn’t want his followers to be members of a religion.

End of. He doesn’t want us to separate the spiritual and the sacred from our everyday lives.

He doesn’t want us to distinguish use phrases like ‘in church’ and ‘in the world’ to separate them as if they are different. Life is about following Jesus, all of life can be sacred, God is involved in every single part of our lives.

Rob Bell made a good point in his sermon, when he asked the question of why we commission people who are leading churches or becoming missionaries, but not commission people starting a new job in a non-Christian environment, where they will equally be serving God and missionaries?

Jesus says there is no difference between the two, and so should we.

Christianity is not meant to be a religion.In any sense. Jesus wants an end to that.

Following Him is not meant to be a religion. Not at all, never should have been and never should be.

Jesus is a way of life, not a religion to be a part of. Church in the same way is not an institution, tradition or exclusive group.

Its not a club to be joined or a posse to be a part of. Its a community of followers of Jesus, meeting together to learn how to live an everyday life for Jesus and serving and blessing each other, supporting each other in that life, and helping people engage with reality as followers of Jesus. Open and ready to welcome new people who are exploring this new way of life, whatever their background or history. Living, serving and acting in love, peace, grace, mercy, forgiveness and with justice, in harmony and at peace with each other.

It makes so much more sense doesn’t it?

Getting rid of religion and making our faith, purely and simply, a way of life that is relevant and important in everything we do.

And church as a community of these people learning this way together and supporting and serving each other as they try to do this, a place where we learn more about how to do this life, and and end to legalism, rules and religion causing problems and restrictions.

A faith and a community much more how Jesus imagined for us and practiced with His followers.

Church in the best and truest – and non-religious – sense.