Dear Family,
Im a hypocrite. I am. The other night we were eating dinner, and i was doing my best to get Daniel to eat all of his vegetables, and i pushed, pushed, and pushed until all of his veggies were gone. He, Daniel, would not get any ice cream until all of his vegetables were gone. He ate all of them, and he earned the right to eat his ice cream. I was proud of him, very proud of him. One big problem--i didn't eat mine.
I had no issue with telling my son he had to eat the veggies, but when it came time for me to eat, i enjoyed the wonderfully decadent food of chili-cheese nachos. I am a hypocrite.
How many of us embody an ethic of do as i say, not as i do? When it comes to the church, it seems there are way too many of us, way too many of us.
When it comes to religion, it always seems to be this way. How many pastors/priests talk about 'sin' but then are found with their proverbial 'hand in the cookie jar?' And i am not innocent. I dont dare point my finger at other pastors/priests/church leaders, because when faced with a stressful situation, do i always act peacefully? Am i always loving? Can i be accused of being forgiving, in every situation? We, religious leaders, preach difficult sermons, claiming to have the keys to the gates, only to fail to live up to what we preach.
Jesus dealt with it too, but Jesus had little empathy for the religious folks who wanted to look good, who made sure the masses met the 'requirements' for getting in, and who held all the answers to Kingdom living, but then failed to truly embody the ethics of godly life. One of the biggest impediments to the church, today, is not expecting people to live up to the "standards" of Christ, but having church folks not live up to whey expect others. Or another challenge to the church comes when church going persons fail to treat others the way Jesus taught. All of these point to one painful reality.
The church is still, as it was in Jesus' day, full of hypocrites. And hypocrites are blocking the growth of the church.
We will always be hypcrites, but when we embrace that and live as broken vessels ourselves, instead of pushing higher standards onto others, we will experience the Divine in amazing ways. We have done it the way of religious uppity practice, lets try Christ centered humility, what do we have to lose? It seems we are primsed to restore the integrity of the church and the name of Jesus, and i can't wait to experience the God of the living, in a world overwhelmed in brokenness and sadness. Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
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