another observation

I went to a local lutheran church the other night to fill in for their pastor, and I noticed that one of their stained glass windows had a sword. And it wasn't just any stained glass window- it was right behind their altar. It wasn't just any sword, either- it was a big sucker, probably 8 feet long, and it basically was the window. This kinda thing probably seems normal to many Christians. After all, Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, right? He should have a crown, a throne, a sword, a scepter, whatever he wants. OK, I get that.

But I've been trying hard to see things how people outside church see them, and this window confirms what many people think about Christians- that we don't really care about people outside our faith. After all, who do you suppose they think God would use the sword on? Certainly not the devoted sheep who show up every week and pay their dues! No, God would use it on the infidels- the people outside Christianity. I don't think the folks at that church had thought anything about this. I also don't think they'd thought about how Jesus could have had all that stuff, but he chose instead to live the life of a humble itinerant preacher.

In The River, we're going to show Jesus the way he chose. We're going to show him as a shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep, who did so forgiving those who killed him. That's not just who he is, it's a message our world desperately wants and needs to hear, but it gets lost in all the conflicting images. There will be no pictures of God with a sword in The River. No crowns. No scepters. None of that stuff. Just Christ crucified. If he wants to come back with a sword, that's his choice to make, not ours.