Today's churches called by God to go clubless (see Sept 9th post) have felt the impact of this very same grenade.
Nothing is easier or more tempting than to insulate ourselves as regular churchgoers inside our own little paradigm of God-worshipers. Let the outside world continue in its heathen ways while we bask in the superiority of our chosen salvation. Our unspoken language is belonging and not ruffling the status quo.
And then...the moment of impact.
Jesus launches his love-self into our midst, calling one or more leaders in the church to consider a new language, a new paradigm:
Love God. Love yourself. Love others the way you love yourself.Um...got the God part. I'm not sure we as women do a good job of loving ourselves--too many competing criticisms, mostly from our own assessments. But okay, let's say we can love ourselves.
Love others? Which others? The ones that will get us in trouble with our fellow churches? The ones that will risk that thing called reputation?
The Pharisee factor toward which Jesus aimed his love grenade most aggressively was their reputation. They were known for the hoops they made for themselves and others to jump through to be considered worthy of religious consideration.
Then and today, Jesus declares war with his love grenades: he hangs out with outsiders and moves us to not be content with just staying in (our churches) with insiders. Having your church turned upside down with this call to love will leave you disheveled at best. You will wonder what hit you. Other churches will decide you've lost your mind and your Jesus.
It is only then that we realize how trapped we are in that thing called reputation. If your church has one to keep, better duck: the Jesus love grenade may very well be headed your way.
Tomorrow: Picking up the pieces.
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