WALK THIS WAY [T, 2-20-18]

I’m not sure I want to be called “Christian” these days. There are so many who claim—loudly--to be Christians but live and espouse a way of living that is the opposite of what Christ proclaimed.

I am sure, however, that I want to try to follow in the Jesus Way. That was what early Christians called following Jesus, The Way. It was THE Way.

Everyone walks in some way. [“Walk this way” is one of the oldest sight gags in the world, but I remember it especially from seeing Dudley Moore in “Arthur.”] When I look at all the possible ways to walk through life, even if I don’t “believe” in God, I can only conclude that The Way, The Way of Jesus, is the most satisfying and fulfilling and joyful way to live. In-joy-able living is The Jesus Way. [I capitalize The Way not to be arrogant, but to distinguish it from other ways.]

Not the Christian way—that word is loaded with too much history and too much anger. Not the TV evangelism way. Not the nationalistic religion way. Not the church way. The Jesus Way.

I think that is why Rob Bell was so successful when he was a conservative church founder. He didn’t start with the Bible or theology or beliefs. He started with Jesus, and he simply said, “Look at all the ways there are to live and compare them. If you do it without preconceptions, you’ll find that the Jesus way is best.”

The Way has two parts that make a whole, what Jesus did and what Jesus said to do. Jesus said very little about believing as part of The Way. He said a great deal about doing.

His model prayer includes daily bread, not just for “me,” but for “us.” So it is important to pray that all may eat, to pray for an end to world hunger. But the Jesus Way does not stop with prayer. He actually fed hungry people. All of Jesus’ prayers were paired with actions. God’s Kingdom doesn’t just come without Jesus’ followers working at it.

[Prayers pairs…that’s sort of clever. Note to self: do something with that some time.]

In the Jesus way, “We are invited to go beyond the minds that we have to minds and hearts that are shaped by the Spirit of God. We are invited to go beyond the minds that we have—minds dominated and blinded by conventional categories, identities, and preoccupations-- to minds and hearts centered in the Spirit, alive to wonder, alive to seeing, and alive to compassion. We are invited to go beyond the minds that we have—minds dominated by the ideologies and preoccupations of individualism-- to minds and hearts that see and hear the suffering caused by systemic injustice, to minds alive to God’s passion for justice.” [1]

The Jesus Way is Good News, and it’s good news that you don’t have to be a Jesus follower or believer to follow in the Jesus Way. You can walk the walk of The Way regardless of what talk you talk.

The one thing I can conclude after many years of living is that The Way is very hard, and worth it, and you are never too young or too old to start walking it.

JRMcF

johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com

1] Marcus J. Borg, Days of Awe and Wonder, Page 129.

I tweet as yooper1721.