The image of Jesus earthly followers huddled in a locked room denying the witness that had already been given them concerning Jesus resurrection should challenge every congregation as to whether we are being like the disciples - gathering in locked rooms.
As we gather for worship wach week despite the fact the doors are open and we are free to come and go is it possible that for some of us our experience is exactly this: an experience that is closed off from the world around us and locked in?
In coming into this space do we cloister our religious experience?
Do we shut it inside an uncomfortable hour of piety, in which we struggle with the notion that Jesus rose from the dead, let alone that he is God!
Do we close of this hour because we are not sure how to make connections between what is spoken here and what occurs day by day? At school, in our family, in our work place, social settings, Earth hours, economic downturns and the list goes on.
Do we do this because we fear being open about our faith we run the risk of being labelled a bible basher; a do gooder; a moral prig?
Do we do this because we fear being told we are nutters that science outstrips religion in terms of truth and knowledge?
Or have we been so socially conditioned by our culture which wants our spirituality to remain a ‘private matter’ that we feel we cannot cross those socially accepted boundaries of 21st century Australia?
No comments:
Post a Comment