God Thinks (click to discover the song)
Recently a friend of mine introduced me to a song by a singer that goes by the name Voltaire.
During the song you hear many claims on what ‘God Thinks’. He makes a point to say various ideas and opinions about God and then say the exact opposite of each other. Many of these opinions are in ‘The Church’ (universal).
The first time I heard the song, I felt myself being outraged, then affirmed, and then jarred by the lyrics once more. I listened to the song again, so that I could understand what it was he was trying to say. The more I listened the more I realized that the message was a fairly prophetic message about the Church. Not specifically VanFumc, but the whole church. Hanging around Portland and Vancouver, I have heard the same messages over and over. The Church is destructive, the church is abusive, the church is a bad idea, and even that churches should be shut down! It makes me sad, because I know that there is theology out there that is not any of these things.
I see this as a failure to meet obligation. The Church (all of the church) has failed to keep Jesus’ commandment that he held most high:
Mark 12: 30-31
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
We also hear it repeated in the Matthenian community; Matthew 22 : 37-39. Also repeated from the Lukan Community, Luke 10:27.
3 of the Gospels tell us to love God and love our Neighbor (most of which are referring to Hebrew Scripture), yet society is giving us that Religion is divided and sending mixed messages out in the world as to what it is that ‘God Thinks’. That some how religion is being perverted and distorted into humanities on agendas and preferences. What they think when they think of religion, is really someone’s distortion of the message of Love.
I hope we can hear the prophetic cry of our people, and start as ‘The Church’ showing that we will no longer throw stones in the name of God for our own protection, but build bridges of hope, understanding, and love.
Grace and Peace,
~Bruce
