Here's a new advert for the outside of the church building: Come on in and we'll make you carry a cross. In fact, come on in and we'll show you how to lose you life and deny the world and all things. Come on in and we'll make you suffer, and that's not just listening to the choir murder the hymns or the preacher prove that he has a theological degree, we're talking suffering for others sake. Please do come on in, we really are quite friendly.
If you were writing an advert for the church you probably wouldn't put it in such terms. Perhaps you'd mention the friendly welcome, the fresh coffee, the desire to care for the community. That's what we do here. But Jesus, who clearly didn't work for Saatchi and Saatchi, thought that wasn't getting to the nub of the matter.
Justice, grace and kingdom God-style doesn't come any other way than to carry it's weight, feel it's pain and know how it breaks you before it brings life. Maybe we just aren't honest enough about the faith. Not to others. To ourselves.
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