by Anncan

Created on: August 19, 2008

While I find a lot to disparage of current Christianity, I'm uncomfortable with such a wide, sweeping indictment that the movement as a whole has abandoned the teachings of Christ. No matter where I've been, when I've needed assistance from 'Joe Citizen' I'm pleased to find, more often than not, that people are generally of a kind nature. Mean spirited interaction is just not par for the course in my experience.

It's true that much of today's preaching seems to veer away from relevant scripture and just addresses whatever moral scandal claims the focus. I believe that if more worship venues were of an interactive method, we'd see even more witnessing of basic christian values. My own issue with current faith expression is that it's far too limited to the ordained. Many, too many, participants in the pew, given a chance, could make brilliant testimony to the presence of God in their lives.

The body christian must also be removed from the indictment due to too little exploration of scripture and not enough adult study groups. I've always found a hunger in people whose faith is active. From my youth I found church leadership too suspicious of laity who would like to delve into the word of God. There's been a mood of patronizing us, as if we are too naive or not sufficiently resourced to explore the gospels and letters and apply their truth to our own situations.

NO, common folk have not abandoned the message of Christ. They often lack leadership that is humble, not centered on financial gain, and willing to empower the flock to mutual inspiration. It's at once a power thing for those ordained and also a fatigue thing. Many of them are too stretched in their day to day duties to allow the leisure of reflection groups.
That in itself is a pity. In my christian tradition the common joke was that we taught the children and played with the adults. When that was met with laughter I felt personally appalled. If I dared to verbalize my position I'd be chastized that I was entirely too serious. Well, it is a serious matter to me that many adults wander from church to church looking for a leadership that inspires. They have the internal convictions and are ripe for the harvest if they would just find a sympathetic ear, a leader who wants to shepherd them.

Indict leadership if you want. Put shirt-sleeve christians on trial but leave the common, kindly spirited person out of any chastisement for lack of knowledge of the teachings of Jesus. Given a chance, they'd drink from the well and we'd be a much kinder, gentler society as a result.

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