we love the one right in front of us. As Ann Lamott writes, "we try to do the next right thing." as a pastor, though, you also have a responsibility to preach it from the pulpit. No one "in" church likes or even believes the gospel message. It should melt them in their pews with its radical, non-PC power. Preach it. You'll get fired, but hallelujah. There isno security outside ofChrist. We must take back both C words - church and Christianity.

I have not "officially" left the church because the only person i know who is not christian is my husband. to everyone around me, anything but "Churchian" Christian is horrible and you are going to hell. I had the same effect as you. when i left, i started to find a deep spiritual connection with God and how i did that was by experimenting with different religions and mashing the stuff that worked for me together. to bring people back to God you need to bring people back to Earth! take nature walks as a community and share communion in nature. don't just repeat meaningless prayers, make your own and share them. share your spiritual experiences rather than feeling it's shameful or people will think you're crazy for having those experiences. Listen to the teachings of the religions of the world, maybe they know something we don't know. do yoga! it's like praying with your body, while offering your heart and soul to God. instead of just saying a quick prayer for them, make them something that will have a longer lasting effect. this is how God brought me back to God.

Mark,

I am in full agreement with you. I am retired clergy (I retired two years ago after 44 years of ordained ministry). For the first three months after I retired, I took a sabbatical from the church. In those three months, I went to church once (just because it felt right that week and resulted in meeting a delightful clergywoman who has once served in the same state I did). I have returned to "church" attending worship services regularly, not because I missed the institution, but because I missed the people. I thought I'd found a church with some contemporary consciousness but soon discovered that it was merely a cloak for luring people in and then trying to persuade them of the old dogma and the old sociological connections. I attend another congregation now but only because the lead pastor is a good friend of mine. I have not been able to find a progressive assembly of people who want to walk with Jesus on a daily basis and not be tied up in the machinations of the institution. Thank you for what you are writing. Please know there are certainly some of us out here that are where you are whether we are in active or retired ministry.

I would venture to say that there are a large number of Muslims, Jews, Catholics and other individuals that are experiencing the same conflict of conscious. One needs to search no farther that Jesus’ example when he threw the “money changers out of the temple”. Organized religion is all about the number of people that it claims control over not the guidance it provides to the individual seekers of Gods guidance. It’s more about being attractive than being helpful.

I don't think William James, the father of Psychology, who wrote extensively on the subject of religion, including a book called The Varieties of Religious Experience, or psychiatrist Carl Jung, who some regard as the father of Spiritual Psychology, and whose work led to the development of Transpersonal Psychology, would agree with Sigmund Freud's assessment.
The work of Dr. Raymond Moody, Dr. Melvin Morse, and Dr. Kenneth Ring in regards to Near Death Experiences and Mystical States show a positive, transformative effect on individuals who have those experiences.
There is also the work Neuroscientist Andrew Newberg. In the early 1990s, he began to research the intersection between the brain and religious and spiritual experiences. His work is sometimes referred to as “neurotheology”, This work was eventually published in three books, The Mystical Mind, Why God Won’t Go Away, and Why We Believe What We Believe. He has continued to study religious and spiritual phenomena including topics related to forgiveness, meditation, prayer, spiritual development, morality, and belief. This work has been incorporated more recently into a new Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania. His work work shows a positive correlation between prayer, contemplative practices, meditation and good mental health.
As for the teachings of Jesus, you did not "have ears to hear". The teaching of "turning the other cheek", is intended to show a way in which to shame an offending party instead returning violence for violence. Such methods were used with great success by Gandhi and Marting Luther King, Jr. As for the teaching "take no thought for tomorrow", Jesus is simply trying to get us to focus on living today because today is all we really have. Practically all spirtiual traditions teach that. Evern Alcoholics Anonymous has the slogan to "live one day at a time". In the NIV Bible, Matthew 6:34 actually says "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own". In summation of Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus says have faith in God, seek His Kingdom and He will meet your needs, so don't be filled with anxiety and worry about the future. It does not say we should not use our common sense and plan appropriately for the future. There is a big difference between planning for the future and living in the future or living with anxiety and worry about the future.

I always tell people that I'm a disgruntled Jesus freak & recovering lesbian! LOL!... :P Many years ago a friend gave me a book , "The Subtle Power Of Spiritual Abuse" by Johnson & VanVonderan... I would not still be a believer if God had not put this book into my hands... Churches often house broods of vipers... they poison your relationship w/God... I often find myself struggling NOT to lose my 1st love... As a homeless, divoriced single mom it was hard to feel a sense of God's love, mercy & forgiveness in church... I don't think religous people have much tolerance for anyone that doesn't "measure up" and they despise and reject the poor & needy on a social level... Love is much more than giving someone a basket of food... and Jesus was a homely, homeless man... He identifies personnally w/ the poor & needy and takes it personnally how you treat them... I've been a follower for 30 years and it amazes me how many Pastors & leaders treat most people as if they were born again yesterday. They think they own God and are the only ones who can ever hear His voice or understand His word... Seminary training (or should I say cemetary) makes people arrogant... My life is my seminary training, my personal encounters w/ Christ everyday in every circumstance is what prepares me for HIS ministry IN ME! Leadership doesn't like people who think for themselves and question authority... instead of them building people up they sadly misuse the people to bolster their own egos. They really are wolves in sheeps clothing who devour whole flocks to satisfy their ungodly appetites. Right now the only fellowship I have is over the phone w/ 2 friends from out of state...and I have a very dear friend who is a transgendered (M to F) atheist who has shown me more kindness, love & respect than most Christians! When my car broke down she not only paid for the repairs (transmission), she stopped by my home almost everyday to check on me and see if my family needed anything! Talk about using the the things that are not to nullify the things that are! I live w/ my 19 y/o daughter & 2 y/o grandaughter ... I told her that looking after widows and orphans in their distress was religion God approves of and she seemed stunned by that... I often think that for the church to survive it needs to stop erecting piles of brick to worship and promote... we should meet in each others homes or @ parks... don't many public schools allow for people to use their facilities? Christianity often does not seek to build people up... it wants control over them... they are power hungry . I know there must be some good churches out there, but I haven't been to them... and everytime I start going to a church it's only a matter of time before I piss off their leadership, because I refuse to check my brain at the door and I WILL stand up to B.S.! I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ... I believe the Bible & I love Jesus! He is precious to me... and nobody has any right to dictate to me how to have a personnal relationship w/Him.

Why worry about it? We need God, his indwelling presence, and we reach him through Following Jesus .. His way, his truth, his life. I find it easier through the Eucharist, but whatever works.

Im glad to read that so many Christians are kind, accepting, non hating people. I wish good Christians would speak up more. Non Christians like me only hear the hateful, nasty, politically frightening Right wing Christians. From my perspective, some Christians seem much more interested in pushing a political agenda ( Theocracy) than following Jesus.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels this way!! I strongly dislike calling myself a "Christian" anymore. I was raised in a lesbian household, and regardless of anyone else's views on homosexuality, no one should tell me I can't be a "Christian" and believe in marriage equality. Well why not!!?? My relationship with Christ is no one else's business but my own? How dare anyone tell me to turn my back on a cause that directly affects my life and my family, in order to love Jesus? Who does that!?

DP: "God says, I will lead you into the wilderness and speak to your heart..." (From Iona Community liturgy) He has done this to me. I am not clergy but was called to serve then rejected by my Minister. I believe God is calling many people out of the Church so that we can begin to be "church" in the wider world and find new ways of being relevant. It takes time to wander in the wilderness and hear the call/find direction after the pain of loss, leaving and grieving; however nothing you are or have learned will be lost when you eventually grow into a new way of being that will benefit a new community, who are longing for a new way of life.

I left the church when I was a teenager for many of the reasons posted above. I came back to Christianity about 10 years ago, and found a completely different experience. I quickly realized that my problems with Christianity weren't with the Gospel, my problems had been with Christians.

Jesus was anti-religion, and spoke strongly about this. When I explain this to my secular friends and family, they have no idea what I'm talking about. In fact, they think my Christianity is the stereotyped and stigmatized version I used to reject. I'm the prodigal son for sure, and what I found in my return to the Gospel literally changed my life, and it's frustrating that I cannot seem to get people to see past the stigma and stereotype.

Angry Christian and Judgemental Christian should be oxymorons, yet sadly they are how the secular world sees us, and for good reason. Too many self-described Christians tend to cherry-pick scripture to support their worldview, and use the Word to condemn or control people; quite completely using God's word in vain.

I completely unerstand Pastor Sandlin's sabbatical; the modern-day church isn't serving the body as the Church Christ speaks of was intended. He never intended for His teaching to become an organized religion, but instead a way of life, a relationship with Him and our Father; a life lived within and because of this Relationship.

As Christians, second to loving God, our charge is to love our neighbor. Period. It can easily be fact that if one isn't living his or her life based on love, it would be incorrect for them to define themselves as followers of Christ (Christian). So the angry and judgemental among us need to seriously examine how they've allowed their ideology to usurp their relationship with God. How they reconcile their anger and ugliness with their spirituality is beyond me, but at the end of the day, I'm not the one they need to explain it to.