Shall I tell you what controversial Christianity is today? It is when Christians who have committed their lives to Jesus stay true to their calling, and to that commitment, even when greater society is more and more railing against Christian faith, and even when some of what passes for organised Christianity is allowing passing secular trends to shape and be at home in a church that is supposed to be guided by Jesus Christ and worship God! In the UK, the established denomination of the Church of England seems as much about being a spiritual arm of the establishment as it does about serving Jesus Christ, and in the US the Christian faith is often so tied up with right wing politics and the prosperity gospel, that it is hard to see where preaching begins and political campaigning ends, so to speak! I say none of this in jest, or none of this to make people laugh, but as this blog goes on, I will add a lot of humour, a lot of things to think about, many things that will criticise much of what passes for organised faith, particularly in the UK and the US, and also what I believe, backed up by scripture and my own lived experience as Christian, is the way we Christians should live. I may add that this is going to be a completely Christian blog, and all the topics and things I write about will be from a Christian perspective.
I am not perfect, not by a long chalk, and nor do I have all the answers, so if you are coming here for perfection and all the answers, don't bother!!! I am a flawed human being with struggles and issues, suffering and heartache, just like everyone else, which makes me a great candidate for being a Christian. Jesus said He came for the outcasts and not respectable people anyway, and all my life I have felt an outcast for one reason and another. Then why is Christian faith often run in the same way as institutions in the world, with people who are often well bred, well educated, often white and affluent, the same types in fact who dominate politics, business, the media and many other areas of power, influence and affluence. Many people may begin to feel that faith itself then is to be carved up in the same way, and that power, influence and graded hierarchies is somehow the way Christian faith is actually what God wants. But, is it? I thought all those things were of the world, things like class systems, racism, prejudices and many other such negative and divisive things which serve the interests of some, and almost always at the expense of others. Please don't misunderstand me here. This is not a political or social rant, but I am talking expressly and particularly about Christian faith and corporate Christian faith. What I see with much that passes for organised Christian faith in both the UK and the US is a faith packaged for the great and the good, the respectable and those who already have it made, and little mention of those who are marginalised, suffering, the long term unemployed, those who are on very low wages living in some kind of reduced circumstances, those in prison, those who are lost and just those who are not thriving or even surviving. Again, this is not going to be a blog just railing against the wealthy and the establishment, but I will be asking questions, questions that rarely if ever get asked about organised Christian faith, and if they make some people uncomfortable, angry or even start yelling at the screen, good!!!
It may be a bumpy ride, so hang in there. I endeavour always to be radically, brutally and painfully honest. I won't always get it right, because nobody does, but when you read something I have written, you know that I have been totally honest. You may vehemently disagree with everything I have written, but you might just respect that I am at least honest, and in being totally honest, I always say a little truth may come, even by default. Here's hoping, hey??!
