Currently, I am reading "Simply Jesus" by N.T. Wright. I have always been challenged by his writing, both as a scholar and as a pastor. In the introduction to his book, he challenges followers of Jesus like this:
"It is we, the churches, who have been the real reductionists. We have reduced the kingdom of God to private piety, the victory of the cross to comfort for the conscience, and Easter itself to a happy, escapist ending after a sad, dark, tale." (Simply Jesus, p. 5)
Why do we have such small expectations of God in our world and in our life? N.T. continues claims that we have the same issue as those 1st century listeners:
You see, the reason Jesus wasn't the sort of king people wanted in his own day is...that he was the true king, but they had become used to the ordinary, second-rate sort. (p. 5)
It challenges me to think: Which part of "broken" do I think God isn't interested in transforming? Not my life (only), but the lives around me. In fact, the whole world longs for freedom from the effects of sin and decay:
creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. - Romans 8:21
So I wonder what sort of second-rate thinking and expectations I have for the God of the infinite imagination. This week I am wondering how that applies to my thinking about the churches I am actively a part of.
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