Why do we say what we say…

I have started reading The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren. He says on page 33 “Or else he was a teacher whose words would be quoted to condemn people our church or denomination didn’t approve of.” He is of course speaking of Jesus here, and I can see what McLaren means about using words of Jesus to condemn people our church or denomination does not approve of, I just came from the synod assembly of the denomination I am a part of. I wonder if we follow Jesus or if we do what we think Jesus wants us to do, living in the history of the church we were raised in. I have not made it far into the McLaren book, however he has already spoken about how he was raised in the church and the Jesus he was shown in this raising is one of meekness and mildness, one who would not question anything, but just love.
I believe Mark Galli hits it on the head in Jesus Mean and Wild The Unexpected Love of an Untamable God. Galli says on page 166, “We are functional atheists most of the time. We jump out of bed, gulp down coffee, and sprint into the day, immersing ourselves in all its petty and large concerns. We barely give God a thought and pretty much live our days as if he is away on a trip.” I had to stop and read this again when I read it the first time. I thought wow, that is it. We pay our homage on Sunday, give God the hour of our lives on Sunday morning to put in our time and we live the rest of our lives as functional atheists. We live as thought Jesus has no effect on us at all. We live our lives to look out for the only one that really matters, us. We live thinking only of oursleves, and not worried about our neighbor. I heard that Mark Allen Powell spoke on the good Samaritan text at our synod assembly. He commented that Jesus asks at the end who is the neighbor? Well to the Jew who was lying in the ditch, he would probably say the men who left him for dead were his neighbors, while the Samaritan was a no good waiste of flesh. Even though the Samaritan was the one who gave him care, the Jew would still see him as the enemy. We do not live the way Jesus calls us to live, but only the way that causes us the least amount of pain.
I believe as many others, that we need to follow Jesus and do what he has called us to do. That is not to be a church, or a religious group of people, but people that claim the kingdom, the place that is now, the reign that is now taking place, to walk in this new reality. This is what Brian McLaren speaks about in his book, this is what Jesus called us to do, and is calling us to do.