I was flying recently over the North Sea, in conversation with my co-pilot, when he mentioned that he was not religious. I guess what he really meant to say was; “I know you are a Christian pastor, and just in case you are going to, stay off the subject of religion!”

 

Actually I wasn’t going to, but my reply was that “I’m not religious either”, in fact I dislike religion, because religion is just the box in which we put whatever faith we have, and the box so often doesn’t reflect what should be inside

We have a tendency to edify the box, we paint and decorate it, put our symbols on the outside and care more for the shape and size of the box, and then we stand, like soldiers, and defend the box against all comers. (I guess this is true of most religions, not just Christianity)

 

As far as this country goes, for Christians, we too frequently are seen as “the people of the box, not the people of the way”

I know that I’m in good company here because many people, Christians and non-Christians, dislike the box including Jesus himself.  You see, he reviled the religious and it was to those guys he spoke most harshly. It was the religious ones who eventually killed him

 

 

Paul summoned it up in his letters to the churches:

 

 

To quote an unknown source “The Christian Good News (Gospel) is the presence and Dynamic of JESUS CHRIST the risen LORD…that is being displayed in the lives of believers…to the glory of GOD”

 

Let’s show the world Christ, without the box