The Cart Before the Horse
by Berni Dymet

Prov. 14:31 Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor him.

I wonder sometimes whether we Christians don't get things the wrong way round. You know - the cart before the horse.

We "do church" the way we've always done church. Why? Well, because, we've always done it that way. And the way we "do church" kind of shapes the way we reach out to people - something the "Experts" call our mission. And then, the way we do "mission" - I think - shapes the way we see Jesus… from our nice, tidy little pews all neat in a row.

The first time I read about Jesus - I was shocked. What I discovered was someone who turned the world upside down. Who healed lepers and hung out with prostitutes and tore into the hypocrisy of the religious establishment.

So I got to thinking what if we turned things around. What if our understanding of this wild radical Jesus, shaped the way we reach out to people. And what if the way we reach out to people determined how we do church?

What would church look like then?

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