So what does this make me?

"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

I'm sitting in church this morning pondering Ted's remarks and I'm watching all this staged stuff (Communion was the worst, I hate to say) and I'm thinking, "This is ridiculous. How in the world do you justify something so phoney and so bad and so..."

Then this verse popped into my head.

Now I'm not one to go around saying, "God spoke to me and said..." I'm not one to go hopping through the aisles yelling and celebrating my "spiritual experiences." I usually just kind of flounder around through life, hitching onto something that I think will be a good thing to latch onto--whether it be VBS, CIY, or some other set of initials that are Christian--and I go for it and hope that I'm doing something about God, for God, or whatever. (I guess my "Purpose Driven Life" is more like "Purpose Driven Hoping.")

But as I said, this verse popped into my head and all I could think is, "Maybe this WORKS for some folks. Maybe CHURCH as it is is what some people need to understand God more." Not that it's ever hurt me, really--except for a couple of incidents that really set us whirling, and that wasn't church itself but a couple of people in the church--but I get into my intellectual kicks and I end up thinking things are so stupid.

Boy am I rambling.

Point is: what if, in my desire to derail the church as it is, I'm missing the point just as much as I feel traditionalists are? And what if they're not missing the point as badly as I think they are, or as I am? After all, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and Jesus is the one who has made us individuals. OK, I see us missing a lot with our traditional values and I see myself needing something different than we have in the traditional sense, but just because I see that doesn't mean that others don't gain from tradition. I see T & SJ, two of our favorite people in the world--two folks who have time and again encouraged us, regardless. Not only does the traditional church appeal to them, but, if it hadn't been there, they probably would have gone from church and from Jesus altogether. I see others there who are the same. Some people may see that as a weakness, but we all have weaknesses and I'm not sure my wanting the church to change so much isn't mine; I mean, after all, what am I focusing on if I want that?

It certainly isn't, "I am the way, the truth and the life..."