Radical Hospitality...Trajectory

For hundreds of years we have used the language that "Jesus came to die for our sins." Doesn't do a thing for me. (And this will surely get me in trouble.) I have always struggled with a picture of God demanding the sacrifice of an innocent to save another. You can read those interpretations in the text; people interpret their experienced based on what they knew before which was the Jewish practice of sacrifice.

Richard Rohr puts it well as he summarizes the work of John Duns Scotus (1266-1308):

Jesus did not come to change the mind of God about humanity (it did not need changing)! Jesus came to change the mind of humanity about God.

That makes so much more sense...and follows the "other half" of scripture. Read the first chapter of John, Ephesians 1. Why is it we prefer the violent, the bloody, over the sheer love and grace?

It seems to me that the focus on this "unfortunately successful theology" has resulted in an "if/then" practice. If you believe in God, then you come to church. If you confess your sins, then God will forgive your. If you are "good," then you are a Christian. If you are committed enough to your faith, then nothing bad will happen to you. 

Imagine our starting points if we started with love and grace. Don't come to church because you believe, come to hear an incredible story of sheer love and grace. People just might be less concerned about the "judgment" of right and wrong and more focused on the grace and forgiveness. (The congregation I serve functions this way...but you wouldn't just walk in off the street because of starting assumptions of this culture.)

As it becomes more acceptable to "not believe" in this country, we hear more of the challenges to this bad theology. The challenge comes, however, by simply dismissing the church. "Nones." The irony is the criticism of church and the dismissal of a faith practice is founded on a wrong assumption. The church people hate may not actually exist.

No congregation is perfect. Many in our congregations have lived generous, caring lives with atonement theories as their foundation. But many, many of us ground our faith in the sheer grace and love of God. A man willing to die for the love of all is a different story than a man killed by God as sacrifice.

As Rohr says...change the starting point, change the trajectory...

And you know if it is written in a blog, it has to be true... (but this one is...truly...true)