Image of God

Your Neighbor

“Jesus is bigger than any one religion. He didn't come to start a new religion and he continually disrupted whatever conventions or systems or establishments that existed in his day. He will always transcend whatever cages and labels are created to contain and name him, especially the one called Christianity.”

Rob Bell

Rob Bell wrote in Velvet Elvis: Repairing the Christian Faith, “If the gospel isn't good news for everybody, it isn't good news for anybody.” I agree. Those who think they can name and claim the “true faith” are simply engaged in hubris. I, for one, am truly tired of being told what constitutes a “good Christian” and that if I don't fall into line with a particular set of beliefs, then I'm bound for hell. You may think that's hyperbole, but around here, folks take their religion with a heaping helping of concrete literalism. Most of the time, it's completely unrelated to anything Jesus said or did.

We humans like to think we're far more important than we are. In pursuit of that, we make things up to support our importance. We even try to define the Divine, and create nice, neat little boxes in which to stuff God. Anything that won't fit into our preferred box is automatically rejected as anti-God. While Jesus instructed us to feed the hungry, free the prisoner, care for the poor, we create laws that keep other people in bondage. We refuse to give oppressed people equal opportunity and rights, and call ourselves “good Christians” while we do it. This is the love of power, not the love of God. If Jesus were here, he would overturn our tables and upend our petty little notions of our own importance.

As we approach the Easter season and the beauty and freedom of Spring, let us remember what Jesus stood for. Here are the words of Rob Bell:

“Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor, and our neighbor can be anybody. We are all created in the image of God. Everybody matters. To treat people differently based on who believes what is to fail to respect the image of God in everyone. As the book of James says, 'God shows no favoritism.'”

Let us go and do likewise.

                                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                                      Jane