out of control

What does "control" mean for we humans? For some it means to have the appearance of everything in deceny and order (as the Presbyterians are wont to say). But then Leonard Sweet wrote his Out of Control Disciple which encourages what we talk about around Fairlawn-West as "letting go and letting God." But that feels too trite for some folks. They prefer to work hard at being in control (which for too many of us really means that we are in denial of the pain that we feel emotionally and over the years that becomes the pain of our bodies.

Church then becomes part of the conspiracy of denial and control. We use the trappings of Christianity reduced down to a "religion" to help us to keep maintaining the facade of righteousness and self-justification for our life. This is what Jesus confronted in the religious folks in his short ministry. He invited people to let go of their lives and try to live by following him. For those who had so much to let go of, that made no sense. That's what leads Jesus to say that those who keep trying to keep their life will lose it. Because they are holding on to themselves instead of taking the first or second step of journey of faith in living fully with God. None of us can do that day to day. That is, we can't keep up that journey of faith. But Jesus keeps forgiving us so we can keep on the path.