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

Seeing life from the hilltops of 2006, I am amazed at how far I have come in my walk with Jesus. And looking at the mountain tops that lie ahead of me. I wonder how far the Spirit might lead me, Have you ever wondered about it? There was once a time when I felt that Christians were weak people, who needed the crutch to walk. And I was a Christian when I thought that. I NOW know how much courage it truly takes to walk through the valleys of the Lord.

It was so much easier when I was embracing my ego, and being a man pleaser.

Most Christians in America want the “benefits of membership” which make their egos feel good. What am I saying? People come to church because it makes them “look” like good people. They feel more accepted and acceptable to the community. It could even be good for their business- help make them money. Adding church membership to a resume could even help one find a job. For many, church is a place where they can move up the ladder of success, gain standing in the “pecking order” of authority. And one can do it with so little effort!

Just act spiritual, do weird things, use religious phrases, and you are IN!

Jesus didn’t come for anything like that. Jesus came to preach the gospel to the poor, to liberate people from such abuses, and to show the religious (Pharisees) that they are really blind and cannot see. Jesus came to give hope to the marginalized, the outcasts, the rejected.

It’s in the spirit of trying to follow Jesus that the elders of LRC have decided to abandon the typical stereo type of church membership and replace it with “Participants In The Journey“. Jesus said nothing about membership and even Paul had little to say about it. Instead Jesus invited us into the mystery of the Kingdom, into a dance with the Spirit, and into the romance of all things. Aren’t we ALL participants in life to some degree?

Say the obvious. Yes we are!

So in this local assembly called LRC there are members of the “household of God” (the saints who say they are submited to God), there are those who have not yet come to that decision; however, they are coming, they are listening, and therefore they are participants in some way on this journey of life. The “they” include atheists, Muslims, Buddhists, and every manner of “ism” one can imagine, but not speak! And all of THEM or THEY are needed by US so that we might love THEM as we do US and therefore not TALK , but LIVE the Kingdom. Did I mention that’s just one of the reasons being a Christian takes courage? We can see in many of THEM parts of who WE used to be, and even remnants of THAT which still visits US from time to time.

Coming to a place of not judging, of laying down our prejudices, and realizing that were it not for grace where would we be, is a big step into the reality of the Kingdom- the message that Jesus brought.

How serious of a “participant in the journey” are you?