the body

When I "listen" to my body, I hear so much that I don't discern otherwise. Jesus was a body person. When he healed people, he would touch their bodies, often. We hear about his feet being anointed with oil and with tears. He washes the feet of his disciples. He offers his body for our life.

But I am stuck in my head too often. I engage people through words and ideas from my head. When I listen to my body, I am more confident and clear about what God is saying AND what I can say and what I don't need to say. I am learning that the latter is at critical as the former.

I am at a point in my journey as a pastor that I realize not everyone wants to follow Jesus who is in the church. They think they are suppose to. That isn't bad or wrong. But they have gotten stuck in the "church" and don't know how to get around doing church to know Jesus. Some other folks come to church because it is "good for society" or the place to learn to be moral. They are upfront they don't believe in Jesus. Again, not bad or wrong people.

The question is "what can we do together" in what we share in common and when do we need to separate? In this latter point, the question is, where are the points of divergence where those who seek to follow Jesus and trust him with their life, need or must focus on that relationship and his mission? There are so many people I come across outside of the church who want to know about Jesus. They aren't ready to "believe", but they are interested. They are moving toward Jesus. Do we spend time with them or keep trying to convince or to help those who are stuck in the church and those who are in the church for reasons other than Jesus? Those who are stuck or join for the good of morality, after a while are moving away from Jesus. They didn't "meet him" in a real way so they have come to assume that church is really more about us becoming good, being good and doing good than what God is doing for us and with us in Jesus Christ. This is a vital difference.