“Lord, if I thought you were listening, I’d pray for this above all: that any church set up in your name should remain poor, and powerless, and modest. That it should wield no authority except that of love. That it should never cast anyone out. That it should own no property and make no laws. That it should not condemn, but only forgive. That it should be not like a palace with marble walls and polished floors, and guards standing at the door, but like a tree with its roots deep in the soil that shelters every kind of bird and beast and gives blossom in the spring and shade in the hot sun and fruit in the season, and in time gives up its good sound wood for the carpenter; but that sheds many thousands of seeds so that new trees can grow in its place. Does the tree say to the sparrow “Get out, you don’t belong here?” Does the tree say to the hungry man “This fruit is not for you?” Does the tree test the loyalty of the beasts before it allows them into the shade?”
Part of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he was crucified, according to this new novel.
Uh…”loyalty of the breasts”??? I sort of got distracted there at the end.
Lovely thoughts otherwise, though, H! Thanks!
Oops…my typo, not the author’s! Thanks Randy. I fixed it now.
Wow Im really surprised Randy noticed that
Hey did you actually write this or are you quoting some famous poet- You continue to impress and amaze me with your insights
o i finally read the source- very nice
Jim, right – I wish I could write that poetically!
Hey gang. Long time no read. Helen, that was beautiful. I’m going to pass that along to my peeps – maybe post it on *my* wall tomorrow.
It’s interesting reading that while listening to pink floyd 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Mike. I liked it too (and I like Pink Floyd :))
That’s an amazing quotation, Helen! When I read something so insightful from someone outside of the acknowledged fold, I realize that God is up to far more that I thought and that his reach extends so far beyond any institution, including the church. I think it takes a distance from the institution and her ways to truly be insightful. Thanks for posting this!
Thanks Glenn!
An interesting bit of prose, but not something that the historical Jesus would have prayed. How can someone be forgiven, if they are not first condemned?
Hi Jim, thanks for your comment. I understood this prayer to mean “forgive those who stand in need of forgiveness rather than continuing to condemn them”.
For what it’s worth, the author is an atheist and his book is intentionally a novel i.e. creative fiction rather than an attempt to accurately depict the historical Jesus. One of the central ideas of it is that Mary had twins named Jesus and Christ.
I am reminded of the Lord’s teaching on how to pray: …”forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. That is part of the historical teaching of Christ. No doubt many of us in the church struggle to live this out. We are, after all, merely human.
Truly, only God can condemn us for our sins, and only God can save us from our sins.
Thank you, Helen, for providing a forum for this discussion.