Don't dream it, be it.

Frankenfurter  sang "Don't dream it, be it." Gandhi said "You must be the change you seek in the world". I wonder what Church would look like if we lived it like we wish it was. In my last blog I said how disillusioned I often felt by the Church, which I guess shows that I am a romantic rather than a cynic, I still dream of what Church might be, and am disilusioned when it fails to live up to my hopes.

I don't expect Church to be full of complete saints, I like the Orthodox Church's view that Church is like Hospital; a place for the sick to get better. Where I get disappointed is that the Church holds onto power, holds onto prejudices that the rest of the world has moved on from, and values reputation above truth.

I could look at the Catholic Church attempting to protect it's reputation by hiding the scale of child abuse, or the Anglican Church's treatment of Gay people or women Priests and Bishops. I could look at my own preaching and the care I take not to cause offence or challenge people to the extent that they consider whether they want to remain in a Church where I minister. In each instance I could make excuses, the Catholic Church does seem genuinely repentant, the Anglican Church places a high value on unity, largely because Jesus did, and is loathe to leave traditionalists feeling excluded, and I feel pastorally responsible for those entrusted to me. Yet part of me looks at the wrist straps we gave our youth group with it's question WWJD? What would Jesus do? Would he start using phrases about white washed tombs, and blind guides again? What would he want us to do, or to be?

I find myself imagining the Church that was a sign of the Kingdom of God. In some ways so different from the Church as it exists now. Firstly it would be on the side of the poor, unafraid to challenge the rich and powerful. Secondly it would be a place of liberation, and somewhere that challenges all that oppresses us. Thirdly it would have a passionate reverence for God's creation. Fourthly it would be good at recognising Jesus in others. Fifthly it would be a place of celebration, rejoicing with people in all that is good in their lives, rather than standing in judgement and using condemnation as a means of control. These would all be signs that the Kingdom of God is in our midst, and that Church people have got hold of the love o God and are being transformed by it.