AN OPEN APOLOGY

I can't take credit for this idea myself. I read a fascinating book this weekend. It's titled, Blue Like Jazz and it was written by Donald Miller. I couldn't put it down. Anyhow, he wrote about this time he and some friends were on a college campus, and they decided to set up a confessional booth. But, rather than having the visitors confess their sins, Miller and his friends confessed the sins that people in the name of Christ have done to Christianity. I thought about it and thought about it; all weekend. I've been frustrated for a long time at how fragmented and disingenuous we can appear to people. This isn't how things were meant to be. Take 20 people off the street and ask them what 'Christian' means to them. Wildly different answers I'd imagine. Heck, that is the reason I started writing this blog. Because we go out there and try to do things our own way, and interpret the bible to suit our own theological bent, and we expect everyone else to try and get it.
So, in light of that; here is my confession.

I am sorry that I am judgmental toward others. I am sorry that in some pathetic attempt at false bravado I feel superior to others sometimes. I am sorry that anyone has ever told you that you are going to hell. That isn't something that we can even imagine to presume ourselves. Several years ago, I was headed there too. I am sorry that anyone has ever told you that God hates you. I don't know how anyone could presume to know that either; rather, God loves you. I am sorry that Christ-followers don't appear to believe the same things, that we can tend to be critical and spiteful of one another, and that we mix messages. I am sorry that we've turned the bible and Christian doctrine into 5,602 steps to life achievement. I am sorry to everyone I've ever turned my back on in an attempt to become more spiritual. I am sorry that I hide behind my Christian bumperstickers as a cheap way to tell you the real Good News of Jesus. I am sorry that most of the time I don't put my money where my mouth is. I am sorry for all the killing that has ever been done in the name of Christ. I am sorry that I don't love enough. I am sorry that some of the time I'd rather be alone that around others. I'm sorry that I can tend to forget the greatest commandment.

HERE'S WHAT HE SAID...
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind...Love your neighbor as yourself. That is the greatest commandment" Jesus-Matthew 22.37-39
I don't know about you, but I love myself quite a bit. Heck, I'm on my mind more than anything else. Most of the time anyway. So, if I were indeed to attempt to love the people I come into contact with even half as much as I love myself, how much would that demonstrate to you?

One more, and that's it tonight. The bible is full of passages that speak of how simple things should be. This is about loving others, about caring for the world around us, about sharing Good News. I'm sorry if it's been anything else.
"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these should be lost." Jesus in Matthew 18.12-14
Think about it.