April 17, 2016 - Animate Bible / Grace - Love Is the Bottom Line - Jay Bakker

Katie did a great job leading the last Adult Forum in the Animate Bible series.  The presenter for the DVD was Jay Bakker, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakkers son.

Katie flipped our normal order of presentation and left playing the DVD of Jay Bakker after the group discussion.

In the group discussion we  read Old and New Testament passages about possible ways to treat your enemy. In the Old Testament God demanded enemies by overcome, become slaves or be killed.  New Testament passages described granting mercy through an understanding of God's grace and love for all.

This is where our discussion dovetailed nicely with the sermon we had just heard.  Making people feel safe seems worthwhile, yet there is a juggling act that Christians are asked to engage in.  When some Christians hear the voice of Jesus saying "To protect the sheep I will kill all the wolves" and some do not, are all Christians hearing the same Master's voice?  Perhaps this is a question of being in different flocks?

Grace with Jay Bakker was an appropriate presentation to end the Animate series.  In this presentation he revealed ways he and his family had been hurt when the Bible was used as a weapon against them but I will recommend following this link to a very emotional Bakker making a case for LGBT marriage in a church around 2007 where he demonstrated a courage I would have found hard to muster.  

I am currently reading "Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism" which we will explore as a congregation in the next Adult Education sessions for the next 40 days  This is a book is about evangelism and prayer.  For me, the author's words are catalysts for many observations and assumptions about Christianity, church life and those outside of church life, including observations and assumptions I may unintentionally make or imply in these posts.

The reason I am posting this today is that it fits in with Good Shepherd Sunday.

Early on the author, Martha Reese, compares current (2008) church membership loss with the losing streak of a baseball team.  She feels what is causing that loss is a reluctance to engage in evangelism.  She writes that a vivid relationship with God lies at the heart of real evangelism and states that "real" evangelism emerges from a trinity of honest, loving relationships:

• With God
• Within the congregation
• With people outside the church whose lives are not centered in Christ

The third relationship is intriguing and prompts questions regarding this faith sharing.  The first involves how the first two relationships are treated differently than the third.  Shifting from the word God to Christ is interesting. The second relationship is broad and would seem to include people not described in the third relationship.  There is no description or accommodation for the true identity of that congregational "flock". This leads to implicit assumptions embedded within these "relationships" including:

• People inside the church lead "lives centered in Christ"
• People outside the church are "not leading lives centered in Christ"
• People's spiritual lives must or should be centered in Christ.

Are these valid assumptions? Do these assumptions allow for strong, deep and "vivid" faith sharing with people both within and outside the church as it may traditionally be defined?  Is the third relationship an honest, loving relationship or is there more judgment than honesty contained within that definition?     .

What voice does Creator, as a flock, currently hear from Jesus regarding faith sharing and how well will we follow the voice of Jesus that we hear?