Just finished an article on unorthodoxy.
Here's an excerpt from the introduction.
Jesus was anything but orthodox.
Don't get me wrong. Certainly no one was more orthodox in belief. After all, Jesus didn't just know the truth. He was The Truth. But Jesus was anything but orthodox as a leader. That is why the Pharirazzi wanted him dead.
In the words of Dorothy Sayers:
To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because he was a bore. Quite the contrary; he was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the lion of Judah and made him a housecat for pale priests and pious old ladies.
Jesus touched lepers, washed feet, hung out with prostitutes, talked with Samaritans, partied with tax collectors, and healed on the Sabbath.
Jesus wasn't just out of the box. He smashed the box to smithereens!
Have we settled for a flannel graph Jesus? A meek and mild Jesus? A milquetoast Jesus with a lamb draped around his shoulders? Sure, Jesus is the lamb of God. But He is also the Lion of the Tribe of Judah! What a paradoxical personality!
Here's a thought: the more like Jesus we become the more unorthodox we'll be.
We must strive for doctrinal orthodoxy, but unorthodoxy is the name of the game when it comes to leading like Jesus. The message of the gospel is sacred, but methodology is not. The moment we anoint our methods as sacred, we stop creating the future and start repeating the past. We stop doing ministry out of imagination and start doing ministry out of memory.
Orthodox in belief. Unorthodox in practice.
Here's an excerpt from the introduction.
Jesus was anything but orthodox.
Don't get me wrong. Certainly no one was more orthodox in belief. After all, Jesus didn't just know the truth. He was The Truth. But Jesus was anything but orthodox as a leader. That is why the Pharirazzi wanted him dead.
In the words of Dorothy Sayers:
To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because he was a bore. Quite the contrary; he was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the lion of Judah and made him a housecat for pale priests and pious old ladies.
Jesus touched lepers, washed feet, hung out with prostitutes, talked with Samaritans, partied with tax collectors, and healed on the Sabbath.
Jesus wasn't just out of the box. He smashed the box to smithereens!
Have we settled for a flannel graph Jesus? A meek and mild Jesus? A milquetoast Jesus with a lamb draped around his shoulders? Sure, Jesus is the lamb of God. But He is also the Lion of the Tribe of Judah! What a paradoxical personality!
Here's a thought: the more like Jesus we become the more unorthodox we'll be.
We must strive for doctrinal orthodoxy, but unorthodoxy is the name of the game when it comes to leading like Jesus. The message of the gospel is sacred, but methodology is not. The moment we anoint our methods as sacred, we stop creating the future and start repeating the past. We stop doing ministry out of imagination and start doing ministry out of memory.
Orthodox in belief. Unorthodox in practice.
6 Comments:
Wow. That really hit home. Thanks. Can't wait to read the full article... where will it appear?
I agree -- wow! That's definitely going to become my new catchphrase: orthodox in belief, unorthodox in practice. I love it!
I'm not sure which issue, but this one will be in Rev. Usually it's several issues out :)
Mark
Hey, you could write a sequel to G.K. Chesterton's "Orthodoxy," and call it "Unorthodoxy."
Too Funny!
It's one of the potential titles for my next book :)
Mark
I was so thinking that the whole way through that post too!
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