rant

Sometimes I just want to rant.

I want to rant about all the people who talk about religion with all the authority of ignorance.

I want to rant about all the people who talk about religion with all the authority of dogma.

I want to rant about all the people who defile grace with doctrine and love with limitations.

I want to rant about ministers who do not minister.

About denominations that are corporations.

I guess the question for me is:  On what side do we err?

Do we err on the side of some legalistic, graceless, myth of personal salvation at the expense of our own humanity and that of others?  At the risk of limiting Godde (or our understanding of the Godde)?

Or do we err on the side of love? 

Boundless, unfettered,  graceful love that includes and honors each one as a mystery in the image of Godde?   Just why is that so damn hard to do?

Why is there even the possibility of a choice?  Okay, that may not be as serious a question as the others but I find, after all these years of even compassionate listening, that I cannot and do not understand how any human being can claim limits on the love of Godde.

Thousands of years ago Joshua said, "as for me and my house, we will serve Adonai."

Today I say, "as for me and my house we will serve Love."

We will serve Love when it stretches us and makes us uncomfortable.

We will serve Love when it is considered foolishness.

We will serve Love without binding it and be dragged along into its wildness.

I think when one serves Love, one (meaning me, in this instance) is just along for the ride.

Is it easy? comfortable? profitable?  not usually.

Is it rich, deep, wide, wild and passionate?  always.

Is it good doctrine?  can you run an organization effectively this way?  does it put the individual or community at risk?  No. No. and Yes.

Is it what followers in the Way of Jesus are called to?