I announced in my last post (Gone Fishing), that I am taking a short break from blogging due to health issues. As you read that post you most likely assumed that I was cutting back on other areas of my life as an extension of what I was dealing with. This assumption was right except for one thing.
We have changed the music. We have shortened the service length. We have stopped holding Sunday night services and Wednesday prayer. We have renamed, reinvented and rebuilt the way we do church. We have introduced technology as a way to interact. We have loosened our dress code, become more lax about showing up late, leaving early and missing a week or two here and there. So why are young people leaving the church?
A spokesperson for the worldwide church would not confirm or
deny that Jesus was being replaced but an individual close to the situation who
spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on
behalf of the worldwide church said: “The vote came out strongly in favour of
retaining the name Jesus but removing both Him and those aligned with Him from
positions of influence.”
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
I have not been surprised by recent events. The praise given to a famous person for joining “our side” doesn’t shock me. The fear that his new found faith is a publicity stunt or maybe just a stint soon to be replaced by the next thing he embraces is not new when it comes to celebrity transformations. The rush to say that because of his past he may not be what he says he is doesn’t shock me any more than the rush to ignore his past because of his latest confession of faith. God can transform a life and man can imitate a transformed life. Both are not only possible but have been part of human history from the moment a piece of fruit changed us from God reliant to self-seeking beings.