on being "lite"

The Lite Church

Home of the 15-minute sermon

The 45-minute service

And the 7.5% tithe

We have only 8 commandments, your choice

Sugar free grape juice and gluten free bread

Everything you’ve wanted in a church, and less

                     Source unknown – a cartoon many years ago

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Sometimes Jesus really makes it tough

I mean seriously!?

Just when we think we have this whole Jesus thing figured out

Just when we are getting comfortable

Boom!

We run across something that blows our socks off

And maybe a few other undergarments as well

“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple… So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions”

There is no ducking that passage

Following Jesus is tough work

It demands a radical letting go

A radical allegiance

A radical cost

And, Jesus tells us, we must “count the cost”

We cannot avoid it, or pretend it is not there

Or we will be like a real estate mogul who gets in over his head

And goes bankrupt

And cannot finish the job

The trick is this

Knowing which cost we are avoiding?

The fact is, we all are masters of avoidance

We just pick different things to avoid

And different things to cling to

It’s a “twofer”

We avoid avoiding by patting ourselves on the back

For the things we fuse with

So one person might hold on, for dear life

to the idea of inerrant literalism,

and thus assume “they” are the ones who are true believers

while at the same time refusing to marry a couple of mixed race

Another person might fuse, hold on for dear life

to what they see as a “pro-life” stance,

but then turn a blind eye to caged children,

or children being gunned down in schools…

and totally miss the incongruity

Yet another person might be ready to side

with every oppressed person in the world,

the poor person,

the person of color

the immigrant,

but will then judge and ridicule those who struggle

with those issues

we can argue whether all “sins of omission are equal”

but my point is simply this

what Jesus calls us to do is to figure out what it is

we are fused with?

what is it we cannot let go?

success?

security?

our own sense of righteousness?

our wealth?

our guns?

our racism?

our hate?

our anger?

our literalism?

our political ideologies (when they don’t match the teachings of Jesus)?

I have things I need to let go of

Anger (right now) is one,

So is my tendency to judge

So is my fear

I have things that cause me to treat others

Talk about others

Think about others

Feel about others

In ways that are not “Jesus”

What about you?