Will Campbell and the church

One of my heroes is Will Campbell. He is a preacher up there with Frederick Buechner and Madeleine L'Engle. Yet, he can't stand the church! He has been involved in some of the most courageous stuff around civil rights and the struggle for peace in the world, and yet he can't stand politics.

I find myself at the same point on both counts. I love the body of Christ, but my experience of church seems to be running away from trusting God and accepting our identity in Christ. Folks feel like I am badgering them to be the "church." Maybe its time I just found a church and then let that experience of church/bodiness speak for itself.

I fear we have "compromised"* the church to death! Fortunately, we don't save ourselves!

*fudged, lied, short-cut, been so codependent to others,

I find conservatives and liberals have done this. We have "cherry-picked" scripture to support our own pre-concieved ideologies. Campbell was ostracized by the civil rights community because he believed we needed to be consistent in sharing love as he went to meet members of the KKK in North Carolina to see what of the Gospel they needed in their personal lives.

Will Campbell, David Loar, Fairlawn West United Church of Christ, Akron, OH