underlining or deleting?

This is not a criticism. Let me get that out there first. I am using something that happened this week to make a wider point.

This week the Church of England met in Synod. Without making any judgements at all it is interesting to me to consider how many of the subjects of discussion and debate at Synod were subjects about which Jesus was completely silent…

Remember, this is not a criticism, but an observation.

I recognise that some of the subjects were issues that did not exist in Jesus’ day. I recognise that he had plenty to say about values, attitudes and behaviour of his followers which had relevance to the subjects under consideration. And I am not saying that the subjects were unimportant or irrelevant. No (just in case you disbelieve me).

But (and here’s the wider application) I do wonder how much of what gets Christians hot under our collars and takes up time and space in church life is stuff that Jesus is not as bothered about. I am not going to list any by way of example because I don’t want this to be seen as an attack or support for any particular issues or causes that would distract from my theme.

A while back it was popular for us to ask “WWJD?” – ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ Perhaps we should also have “WAJP?” on church meeting agendas (local, regional, national, international), on our prayer lists, and our sermon subjects: ‘What Are Jesus’ Priorities?’ How different would those agendas be if we really took that seriously? How different would our praying be? How different would our sermons be?

Just a thought…

Be blessed, be a blessing