This morning I'm gathered with our pastoral staff near Bend, Oregon. This is our annual planning retreat, our important opportunity to "go to the other side of the lake" to commune with God, with one another, dreaming about the coming season of the Church of Jesus Christ, College Place, Washington, USA.
Cracked open a new book that may well become a classic. Jesus Manifesto by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola. If you look on the back leaf to see their pictures, you won't find any images. The only image, the only focus, of this book, is Jesus.
I titled this blog entry "I'm Not Over It (Him)." This past Winter I invested 9 weeks preaching about Jesus. And now, it seems, to return to Jesus, it might be too soon?
Forgive me, Lord.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. It is all about Jesus. I'm tired of talking about worship, mission, evangelism, morality, progress, regress, reformation, church health, church success, origins, the past, the future, right, wrong, work, rest ... I WANT TO TALK ABOUT, TO HEAR ABOUT, TO KNOW ... TO KNOW ... JESUS.
I didn't fall in love with hard work, humor, skill, gifts, honor, integrity, history, hopes, commitments, attributes ... I fell in love with Nicole, my wife, a person.
And so, too, I want to fall in love with Jesus again and again. I do not flip over religion. My heart does not skip a beat over a moral code. I am not memorized with truth.
Only with THE truth. Who is, love. Who is lovely. Who loves me, and you. Who was, is, and will be.
