Don't Be Stupid

"Reality TV is a great place to learn how stupid humanity really is..." I heard this comment on a podcast of last week's sermon by Eric Bryant, one of the lead-team at Mosaic in Los Angeles. I kind of lost the next few minutes of his message because my mind started to wander. Here is where it wandered...

Sometimes, the church exhibits that same propensity...

...a nationally known religious leader suggesting assassination as good foreign policy
..."church leaders" blaming New Orleans residents for Katrina
...emergent vs anti-emergent voices throwing around misused verses of Scripture in order to fight with each other on their respective blogs (don't bother listening to each other, just muster up as much venom as you can and spit in their general direction)
...the crazy ways we try to dress up the fact that our sin disgusts/angers/saddens God and the only way to get rid of it is His Son taking the punishment that we deserve
...the seventeen million various Jesus-gadgets that we can wear, eat, stick, carry, or play with to tell people we love Jesus without actually telling them that we love Jesus
...the explosion of bloggers like me putting thoughts into print, which others will read but hear whatever they want to (or whatever gives them the most fodder for their war) anyway

Yes, humanity, for all its advances, can be pretty stupid. The amazing thing, though, is that this stupidly-acting church is Jesus' idea. We're His humanity... His body. As screwed up as we might be, He calls us His own. And He calls us to get better. We're not there yet... as evidenced by so many imperfections. But as Paul before us, we keep pressing on toward the heavenly prize He has called us to.