I believe the church in America is suffering from this “fatal lapse of memory.” What has transpired in the wider culture reveals how arrogant, judgmental and triumphalistic the church has become. We have embraced successful personalities over suffering. We have sought power and influence over service. We have turned public worship into a form of consumer culture, seeking to attract people to the institution. We have failed to root discipleship, always understood best by the passion of Jesus, in his death and resurrection. For most discipleship is an educational program with the purpose of gaining more knowledge of facts.
Face it, our notion of church is often elitist. “An exclusivist attitude on the part of the disciples is tied to their failure to understand the cross. Jesus’ life was a life open to others, his power was in giving life, not in possessing it for himself” (Senior, 155).
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I believe the church in America is suffering from this “fatal lapse of memory.” What has transpired in the wider culture reveals how arrogant, judgmental and triumphalistic the church has become. We have embraced successful personalities over suffering. We have sought power and influence over service. We have turned public worship into a form of consumer culture, seeking to attract people to the institution. We have failed to root discipleship, always understood best by the passion of Jesus, in his death and resurrection. For most discipleship is an educational program with the purpose of gaining more knowledge of facts.
Face it, our notion of church is often elitist. “An exclusivist attitude on the part of the disciples is tied to their failure to understand the cross. Jesus’ life was a life open to others, his power was in giving life, not in possessing it for himself” (Senior, 155).