Heretics!

13“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14“You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15“No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you."
John 15: 13 - 16 NKJV

I read this week from Wayne Jacobsen of how it was once considered heresy to encourage others to worship the Lord at home with friends and family.  If this be true, then count me in the company of heretics!  In fact, count our weekly discussion/worship group as just one more group of rebel heretics.  For the only church we know is not a church at all, but a local fast food joint which has earned our nickname of McChurch.  You see, we learned early on that we felt more comfortable outside of the constrictive walls of the institutional church and among our brothers.  What started out as a two man gathering with Dennis and myself has now doubled in size.  We have no worship band, no sermons and no offering plate.  However, what our McChurch does offer us is comradeship between brothers and a desire to learn more each week of the truth of Christ Jesus.  So yes, if you can call that heresy then please count me among the guilty.  How far we have come from the true worship of Jesus in our church congregations.  And they wonder why fewer and fewer people are shunning the local church...heretics all!  Myself, I have seldom looked forward to a Sunday morning spent among the strict institutional requirements of organized religion.  It seems I'm not alone in that regard.  Therefore, I switched my Sunday mornings from institutional church to one of companionship and learning about Jesus.  For it is Jesus who is the center of the church and not vice versa.  Those who have read my page will notice that one of the main verses I often quote is Galations 2:20.  For it is here that the apostle Paul lays out for us the truth of Christ Jesus in us today.  It is no longer we who live, but CHRIST lives in us!  I find this truth far more important to me than a Sunday sermon or a rockin worship band.

"This is what happens when we lose sight of the church as the company of people learning to live in the love of Jesus and following Him, but seek to contain it in institutions with those who need to derive their income from it."
~Wayne Jacobsen~

This is why we gather at McChurch on Sundays, not to revel in a tradition but in Jesus who loved us first.  Each one of us has felt that tug on his own heart to "Come and see" the truth of Christ.  It is Christ Himself who welcomed us into this assembly.  It is Him who we worship.  I guess we would be called McHeretics.  I cannot say that we are a threat to the local church as most heretics go, but we indeed have each seen enough of the organized church to lead us away from it.  As I've mentioned, I believe that this is exactly why others are leaving the local church in greater numbers.  Are we all heretics?  Perhaps, but perhaps we're also in search for something more than a tradition and conformity to the institution.  I've often found myself in envy of those few disciples who shared their lives with Jesus during His ministry.  Day by day these men walked and lived in the presence of God Himself!  If we ourselves believe in the truth of Christ Jesus, we too will share in this experience once we accept Him into our hearts.  Each day we will walk and live AS JESUS who is within us.  That doesn't sound like much of a heretic to me.

~Scott~

Heretics!