I’m writing this because a good friend of mine is struggling to recover from the betrayal that this pastor in a real church in a real city represents. I have a mixture of sadness and a tinge of anger in response to this situation. In praying and thinking about this, I was reminded about the parable of the tares.
What Authentic Christian Community Looks Like
Years ago, when I first started attending church, I thought I had to “look good and be good”. I believed that I needed to appear as if I had my act together and never messed up… and if I did, no one need ever find out about it. The good news is that I was dead wrong.
On beauty and worship
While I enjoyed touring the churches, my visits were a mixed bag for me. For example, one of the more disconcerting things that I encountered was a commemortive to Charles Darwin in Westminster Abbey. I hope that I will not offend anyone when I say this, but for me Westminster Abbey was more museum than house of worship. I was awed by the rich history of England as I toured, but little about what I saw around me pointed me to worship of God
Made in God’s Image
Maybe seeing others as the image of God is part of how we can fulfill the command in Philippians 3:3 to regard the needs of others higher than our own needs.
