Apostles and Earrings
I wonder if this belonged to one of the apostles? Simon the Zealot strikes me as the kind of guy who would wear an earring. I recall the time, when I was graduating from seminary, I received an invitation to start a new congregation in a college town. In the letter, they outlined the vision, the demographics of the community, and their expectations for the pastor. The letter ended with a p.s. -- "and of course, your wife will not be permitted to wear earrings." They forgot say anything about ME wearing earrings. For a while, I was tempted to go ahead, take the position, and get my ear pierced.

George needs to say things in fewer words, but he has some great points.
ReplyDelete"demanding loyalty rather than earning loyalty"
An individual, institution or whatever can never demand loyalty or trust, it must be earned. So many churches try to use guilt to accomplish this.
"Restructuring fits in the same category as rearranging the chairs on the Titanic." One of the leaders of our denomination said they were "righting the boat." Again, it would be like telling all the passengers on the Titanic to run to the other side to prevent the sinking of this already doomed vessel.
So many things our church leaders are trying is to be likened to using a piece of bubble gum to stop the flow of water in a dam wall.
Yet again, some of our denominations need to RIP.