LRC, Houston - the weekends-free church in Houston, Texas

I appreciate all the work that went into the Apostles Creed, Nicean Creed, and others of the early church fathers. We don’t realize how much territory they had to cover, and just what mind-boggling concepts they were dealing with. If you could for a moment, go back with me some 2000 years.

Israel believes in God Almighty, the one and only true God to whom they have dedicated their lives- though in a somewhat skewed manner. Along comes this “man” named Jesus who say He too is God. Say what? Ever wonder why they crucified Him?

Ad then as He is getting ready to depart, He claims that there is yet another God- the Holy Spirit! Way too much information to deal with here, but they must. So, in those first three hundred years, the apostolic and early church fathers came up with the “creeds” to which today we take as normal. Back then, it was revolutionary stuff: three Gods in One? So what were these creeds anyway? They were simply man’s attempt to MENTALLY construct and explain the trinity.

And, man has been “intellectualizing” God ever since!

It was the Enlightenment though that seems to me to be the final nail in the psuedo-God construct. For most Christians today, God is BELIEF SYSTEM- actually plural, systems! Every denomination is evidence of it. Each denomination has their belief strucures. Violate them and you’re deemed a heretic at worst, someone that nobody cares about (an outcast) at best.

So, how do we get from God and Christianity as a “belief system” to an experiential reality. That IS the question isn’t it? And that’s the journey that we are on at LRC- plain and simple. Some are further down the road than others, but few, if any are close (myself included). Unfortunately there are way too many in the world that are happy with the status quo. They feel they have fulfilled the requirements for getting into heaven (public confession of faith) because that’s what the church told them they needed to do.

Besides, all this intimate, lovey-dovey stuff with an unseen God just doesn’t feel comfortable.

I’ve done my best, in love, to break down some of the walls that keep us from seeing Him as we ought. However, on March 19th, I will begin a five week series (to Easter) on just who Jesus IS that I pray will get us over the hump. The five concepts (and there are many more) I will open up are: Jesus as Spirit Person, as Wisdom Teacher, as Social Prophet, as Movement Founder, and as the Son of God.

An intimate relationship with God is the most lifestyle changing event in life. Come along!