“A rose by any other name …”

I am so tired of how the whole concept of “church” and “religious community” has been co-opted by the conservative among us. They’re entitled to use the terms, for sure, but so are those of us on the Christian Left. (Check them out at http://www.thechristianleft.org/ or on Facebook and Twitter) I remember in seminary feeling like “I want my Jesus back.”

Well, guess what! “Jesus” and “Christian”  DO  issue forth from my lips and I rather like it because J (as I call him … we’re on a first letter basis) was/is a kick-@## kind of guy and one I can really relate to. He IS a figure for the 21st century.

But what about those places where we gather to talk about him and his rockin’ ways? Do we have to call it “church?” What awful associations that word has with hypocrisy, and  killing people (hello, Inquisition), with antisemitism, heterosexism and use of abusive power. I mean really … why WOULD anyone want to join a group with that kind of history and bad press.

If only we could use another word … “fellowship” is just to male for me … what are some more ideas?

See … until we can get people passed that whole association-thing, it will be nearly impossible t get them to envision what it MIGHT be like to have a group of like-minded people living a collective life working toward justice for ALL everywhere, with no strings (you have to believe or you don’t get the help) attached.

Sometimes I think small “house gatherings” are the way to go and have them all be “pods” connected to each other so that once a month everybody would come together for a larger group experience.That might be cool. And share the expenses, governance, etc.

Enough for this morning. My brain’s gonna fall out now.

Hope you have a good day wrestling with some of this stuff.

Deb