outside the box

Below is a statement made by Wayne Jacobsen during a podcast introduction jingle over at The God Journey website. (side note-God has used so many of the podcasts that they've produced over the last 3 or so years to be a real encouragement to my journey)

Thinking outside the box (of organized religion) is not about whether you go to a meeting or not. It’s about breaking free of the obligations of religious performance, and living in the adventure of a relationship with God as our Father. (Italicized comment my own)

That statement packs so much balanced, mature wisdom when it comes to the whole issue of trying to understand my relationship to God, His family of followers (the Church), and organized religion (the church-notice the small c).

As Wayne has said before, you can leave the institution and yet still have the institution in you. And conversely, Jesus said to be in the world but not of it. Sometimes people have to leave something to get it out of their systems, and other times God can have people in systems and yet the systems not be in them. I pray that each one of us are sensing where God would have us and that we would make it our focus to be in relationship with Him and His Body wherever we may be found.