Can You Imagine Jesus Wearing Vestments?

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

@#$%

@#$%

"Whoever wants to be great must become a servant.

  Whoever wants to be first among you must be

your slave.  That is what the Son of Man has

done.  He came to serve, not be served -

and then to give away His life in exchange

for the many who are held hostage."

Jesus

@#$%

"The Jesus of suburbia is a lie."

Green Day

@#$%

"You elevate traditions to the commandments of God.  You don't practice what

you preach.  You adore expensive vestments.  You want to be called Doctor

and Reverend.  You expect to be first in line for potlucks.  You want to be seen

sitting up front.  You've missed the point.  Following Me is about serving.

It's not about being great.  It's about being a humble servant; and I will

lift up the humble and bring down the arrogant.  You wear religious

masks to hide no personal relationship with Me.  You add people

to your churches who are twice as fit for hell as you've become.

You enable greed and self-indulgence because it yields the

perks, popularity, position, and prosperity that you covet

more than Me.  I have wanted you to be close to Me

like a hen gathers her baby chicks under her wing.

But you exchanged Me for your reimagined

religion; and now you wonder why all

about/in you is so desolate."

Jesus

@#$%

    It is considered among the most prestigious seminaries in the world as well as franchise.

    After a lecture on pastoral care, the professor was asked, "Are there reserved parking spots for clergy at hospitals?"

    The professor seemed stunned by the shamelessness of the inquiry.

@#$%

    Do you think Jesus would have requested a reserved spot in the church parking lot?

@#$%

    A year after undershepherding the church without distinction, I was asked to send a picture for its framed clergy collection posted in the library.

    While searching for something appropriate, I stumbled upon a non-best-selling book that I had written on the Ten Commandments.

    I did not send a picture.

    When asked again, I said I could not find anything...appropriate.

@#$%

    I know brass plaques and portraits of pillars and pastors adorn many churches; but haven't we learned anything from the Reformation...not to mention...?

@#$%

    She was an extraordinarily able church business administrator.

    Anal.

    She dragged me to the narthex because she was so proud of the tiles buffed to blinding perfection.

    With a hint of sadness betraying something ignored because she signed my checks, she said, "Too bad it will be all scuffed-up after Sunday."

@#$%

    Museums and mausoleums are very...neat.

@#$%

    The women were so proud of the needle-pointed pew cushions featuring the disciples that they'd made for the front pew.

    Gorgeous.

    Expensive.

    Fragile.

    They asked me to urge the elders to rope off the front pew so nobody could sit on them during worship.

@#$%

    Museums and mausoleums are so...empty...of life.

@#$%

    Jesus said anyone can go to heaven.

    He sighed lamentation over those who choose otherwise.

    It's the part of John 3 that's been revised egoeisegetically.

@#$%

    Have you ever noticed how so many of today's clergy ordained/installed/compensated in the name of Jesus ignore, defy, and auto-suggest Him?

@#$%

    Have you ever noticed how so many of today's clergy with over 2K years worth of information about Jesus talk, walk, and look like anything but Him?

@#$%

    Have you ever wondered how so many of today's clergy can read those red letters with a straight face?

@#$%

    There's a lot more that I want to say; but I've got to stop because there's something in my eye and...

@#$%

Blessings and Love!

@#$%

Sig