From Pastor Zeke Page 1 From the Desk of Pastor Zeke Dodging Elephants One weekend during college, a friend and I had gone to Camp Ozark to lead worship. We were headed home late Saturday night. All of a sudden my brakes went on and the car came to a complete stop. There sat in front of us a huge bear. He was sitting on his rear and just looking at us. It was a standoff. There was no going around him. We were stuck. “Church is too often the most risky place to be spiritually honest” – Peter Enns Stuck-ness is an inevitable element of life. I grieve because the church has narrowed the scope of faithful living to a nice, neat life. As long as you’re not too messy, disruptive, inappropriate, showered… the list of pre-req’s go on and on. This element of church is pervasive within and also well documented in the minds of those who do not go to church. As I read Jesus and study his interactions with others, there is a radical, stipulation-demolishing, profiling denying, boundary crossing, and radical grace about him. Jesus was more concerned about meeting people where they were- literally and spiritually- than tending to any precept of image. This radical accepting nature of the church has been misplaced- not lost- misplaced. Truthfully- there will always been elephants in the room- un-dodgeable, gigantic elephants. I long for a church that welcomes the elephant along with the person. For in doing so, we will be closer to a grace-filled church than ever before. After all, we are not here for a place where the righteous gather to talk about how we got everything right, we gather to acknowledge our brokenness and seek the redemptive love afforded us by God through Christ. I pray that each of you might experience that love and, in turn, share it with everyone you meet. - Keep the Faith Strong, Zeke Wesley UMC Newsletter September 2021
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